Garlic contact group met to analyze the sector

Garlic has become not only a kitchen helper, but also an ally of health. Its properties are manifold: it improves digestion, allows nutrients to be absorbed more efficiently, improves liver function, helps to balance tension, among many others.

For the most part, the effects it generates on health have to do with one of its compounds such as sulfur, which is formed by chopping, crushing or chewing a clove of garlic. This chemical is known as allicin and this compound is responsible for the characteristic smell of garlic.

When the allicin enters the system and then passes to the digestive system, it performs a whole process, where it reveals its powerful biological effects.

It is so important, the existence of this sector in international markets that meetings are held to discuss how their production fluctuates and how their prices are handled.

To analyze its situation in the national and European market, the Garlic Contact Group Hispano-Francés met recently in the town of Las Pedroñeras in Cuenca.

One of the points that was discussed is related to the losses of the harvests of the garlic, which are close to 20% due to the late rains of 2018.

In Spain, the production increased, and also the area of garlic. This increase has been seen in the last 15 years.

For the last campaign, Spain has obtained a record in production with a figure of 250 million kilos and with some 26,000 hectares of cultivated land. In terms of prices, garlic in France and Italy exceeds that of Spanish production. In the first countries, production has a deficit. In this regard, Julio Bacete, who is president of the National Garlic Table, said that “they need to buy garlic outside their country.”

Bacete stressed that to meet this need, they must specifically buy garlic from Spain, where more than what is consumed is produced, therefore, the product must be sold outside the country.That is why, faced with this situation, Bacete affirms that “we have highlighted the need to transfer the European garlic difference to the European consumer”.

China has become the world’s leading producer of garlic, with an 80% yield. This increase in the product from China, in this campaign, has exerted a downward pressure on the prices of Spanish garlic. However, there have been slight increases in the price.

During the meeting the condition of the garlic sector was discussed before the Brexit, in this respect the representative of the Ministry of Commerce, stressed that the picture is not clear regarding the existing agreements between the European Union and the United Kingdom. It is said that in the supposed case, that the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, it would be evident the decrease of the current quota, because a part would be assigned to the British nation.