The Coordinator of Organizations of Farmers and Livestocks (COAG), in which the Aragonese is integrated Uaga, has denounced on Wednesday the serious situation of lack of protection suffered by the Spanish almond sector as a direct consequence of the decisions taken within the framework of the tariff war between the United States and the European Union.
As explained by Javier Fatás, a member of the Executive Commission of COAG and responsible for the nuts sector, the situation has worsened after the EU announcement over the “ridiculous tariffs applied to the importation of Californian almond.” The Spanish almond is “the great sacrificed within the context of interests around the tariff war starring both geopolitical titans,” he added.
The Agrarian Organization speaks of a “betrayal” by the European authorities, allowing the almond from California between the community market with rates that range between 2% and 5.8%, “well below the costs that national producers must assume.” This has caused, according to Fatás, that “the lack of protection is consuming to the sector and exposes it to an intensification at the entry of Californian Almendra, derived from a stock surplus, as it has been happening periodically since 2022, which can derive, in turn, in a new price cataclysm, with serious consequences for the profitability of the farms.”
They denounce competitive disadvantages
From COAG they also point out the lack of equality in production conditions. While in California it is cultivated in intensive irrigation farms, with broad access to water resources, fertile soils and a massive use of phytosanitary, Spanish farmers “are subject to strict environmental restrictions, which makes their farms more expensive.” In spite of this, the quality of the national almond is “much higher with respect to the Californian”, although this competitive advantage has not been taken into account by the EU.
Fatás has been blunt: “The Spanish almond is the currency of these interests because it is being forced to pay tariffs that, in the best case, tripled those that the American supports when entering Europe”, which in her opinion implies a “clear commercial disadvantage that is finishing catapulting the sector to a unfair competition difficult to sustain.”
COAG requires the Government of Spain and the community institutions that, if this inequality is not corrected, direct economic compensation are enabled to the sector. “If Europe chooses to sacrifice the almond sector, at least it must assume its responsibility and protect those who support our rural areas,” fatás defended.
