Fecoam warns of the risk for nut producers due to North American tariffs

The Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Murcia (Fecoam) highlights its "discontent and utmost concern" regarding the viability of the fruit-drying sector's operations in light of the recent trade agreement reached between the European Union and the United States. Thus, and with many details yet to be defined, the known bases of the agreement generate "great concern" among producers not only in the Region of Murcia, but throughout Spain, explains Pedro Guerrero, the sectorial head of Fecoam. Under the agreement reached, Spanish almonds will have tariffs of 15 percent for their entry into the North American market, and at the same time, the entry of U.S. dried fruits and other products worth approximately 650 billion euros is liberalized. This trade liberalization of the sector "seriously endangers our operations, our industry, and our food sovereignty," Guerrero emphasizes. The sectorial head of dried fruits explains that the U.S. is the world's largest producer of almonds, ...