Spain: Walnut and pecan committee analyzed the competitive disadvantages compared to the United States and Chile

In a meeting held in Madrid, Spain, the FEPEX Walnut and Pecan Committee explained that local phytosanitary limitations in the cultivation of these nuts are placing the industry in a situation of strong competitive disadvantage compared to imports from other countries, especially the United States and Chile, that can use active materials prohibited in the European Union, such as cyanamide. As reported by FEPEX, the use of this active material stimulates and increases the percentage of sprouting and standardizes the growth of the shoots, allowing better productivity. "Consequently, in these countries a higher yield per hectare is obtained that is not achieved in community production, which is more limited in the use of certain phytosanitary products, favoring imports from the European Union, which in 2023 amounted to 186,755 tons, of which 128,343 tons were shelled and 58,412 tons were shelled,” the entity reported. In detail, the main suppliers were the United States with 73,115 ...