Representatives of the National Association of Producers and Marketers of Garlic have already asked Brussels to outline how the United Kingdom will leave the common market and what the plans are for future trade relations with this country. They also asked the EU to reduce the Chinese garlic import quota based on the volume of trade and, above all, they have demanded protection and surveillance measures to avoid fraudulent triangular imports via the UK, as stated by the director of ANPCA, Luis Fernando Rubio.

It is worth recalling that, for garlic producers in Castile-La Mancha, the main client is the international market, so their main interest is "that the markets are as open as possible." Now we are working on the agreement between MERCOSUR and Europe and have asked for garlic to be free of any tariffs. Rubio assures that this has been a very welcome initiative. The ANPCA has already made some calculations and believes that "opening the European market to Argentinian garlic is not a serious problem. However, access without tariffs to the MERCOSUR markets, especially to the Brazilian market, would be very good, because we would be more competitive."

The sector is not only worried about the situation that the new EU map will lead to, but also about the new tariff policies announced by the US. In recent years, the commercial relations with this country had recovered; in fact, the US was starting to show more interest in purple garlic.

Purple garlic campaign in the region
Besides the situation in the international markets, the garlic sector of Castile-La Mancha is also looking closely at the development of the campaign. The purple garlic season is about to start and there are "very good prospects regarding the production" of this variety. "The volume may be slightly smaller due to a lack of larger sizes, but the quality should be good." This has been confirmed by Rubio, who acknowledges that "some batches suffered the impact of adverse weather conditions, but most are in perfect condition."

All in all, they still expect "a normal purple garlic campaign this year in terms of marketing and prices." Besides, this slight dro in the production could result in smoother sales, although without major changes.

The problem, compared to other more common varieties, like the Spring, is that China "has a large supply that prevents a price recovery and the products sale to other markets." Despite the great strength of the Asian giant this year, consumption in the domestic market is still good and the situation may very well improve by the end of the campaign. In fact, Rubio explains that the forecast is that "the warehouses will end up practically empty, without surpluses, like in previous campaigns."

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