LA UNIÓ de Llauradors (Growers' Union) has asked the General Directorate of Trade and Consumption of Valencia's government and the Food Information and Control Agency (AICA) of the Ministry of Agriculture to initiate an investigation into the discounted prices for citrus fruits set by retailers Alcampo and Dia. The goal is to find out whether they involve practices contrary to some of the guiding principles of the Food chain Law.
Alcampo is currently selling 5 kilo nets of Salustiana oranges from the Region of Valencia for 1.99 Euro, so the price for each kilo does not even reach 0.40 Euro. The original price was 2.99 Euro per 5 kilo, which is 0.60 Euro per kg, so the price has been reduced by 33.44%. This same supermarket chain also offers consumers other oranges from the Region of Valencia under the Premium category which allegedly fail to fulfil the legal requirements as regards their quality.
Meanwhile, supermarket chain Dia is currently selling 4 kilos of oranges of the Navel Lane-Late variety, also from the Region of Valencia, at a discount price of 1.99 Euro, so the price per kilo stands at 0.50 Euro, with no indication of what the previous retail price was. LA UNIÓ also denounces incorrect labelling practices at this supermarket, as the fruit label indicates that the variety is Navel Lane-late, but the sign says it is Navelina, which can be considered a fraud on the consumer.
These situations, according to LA UNIÓ, may violate the Food chain Law, because the prices offered imply that the growers sell their production for a price below their production costs. In this sense, the study of the value chain on the citrus sector carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture in December 2013, and which sets the threshold of minimum profitability for producers, insists on the need to set the retail price of oranges at 1.08 Euro/kg.
Both chains are therefore selling oranges at prices well below this minimum threshold, which will entail losses for citrus producers in the short or medium term.
