The carob campaign has started with little optimism due to the fall in prices. Of the almost two euros that came to be paid in the last two years, now, the price has fallen to 30-35 cents. "These are somewhat fair and ruinous prices", affirms the person in charge of the carob of Unió de Pagesos, Jordi Castellnou.
Farmers say that this year's harvest will be good, although the fruit will be thinner and weigh less. They are also concerned about the drought that has left the trees "depleted." In addition, if it does not rain in the next few days, they warn that there will be no harvest next year because the carob trees take out the sample for the next season in this period.
Producers started harvesting the carob last week and expect a somewhat lower production compared to last year. Castellnou calculates that they will collect between 40 and 45 tons of carob beans on their farms. In the previous campaign, they harvested about 50. "In all of Catalonia they are talking about 50% or 60% of a very good production," he says.
In the case of the company Comercial Garrofa, a group of first-rate associated cooperatives from Tarragona and Castellón, located in Mont-roig del Camp (Baix Camp), expects to reach 4.5 million kilos.
"We counted towards four, like last year, but now we believe that we are at about 4.5, which is a little more than last year, but not much more. We do between three and we have reached seven, now we are far from a record harvest", details its manager, Francesc Xavier Cort. He points out that the drought situation has caused the harvest forecasts to be between 10% and 20% less than the previous season.
Two years ago, the price of carob reached 1.80 euros. Last year, the campaign started at 1.50 euros. "It was a very good price so that the farmer could earn a decent living and, now we are talking about prices of between 30 and 35 cents, which are somewhat ruinous prices", laments Castellnou, who also points out that production costs have increased in recent years. recent years, with the increase in the price of fertilizers and phytosanitary products, among others.
For his part, Cort considers that the prices of the last two years have been "exorbitant" and remarks that "they had never been seen". The manager explains that food companies, which are the ones that consume locust bean gum, began to buy the product to accumulate stocks due to the increase in prices. This, he maintains, caused the more they bought, the more the price rose.
"Now, they have reduced the consumption of locust beans and from being the first in quantity, now it is the last. This has caused consumption to drop a lot and at a time when they have the highest stocks because out of fear they had been buying more than they actually spent, so as not to be deprived," he says. However, he is confident that companies will buy again starting this fall. Both Cort and Castellnou hope that prices will not take a decade to recover. In addition, from Unió de Pagesos they point out that a "worthy" price would be around 80 cents.
In parallel, Castellnou affirms that farmers are unhappy with the operation of the Reus Market and, therefore, the union has decided not to attend on the first day of price fixing. "Two carob buyers stand up and set the price they want; it doesn't work as it should, we don't see it as correct," he denounces. That is why, he says, they will continue to fight to get a fair price.
According to Castellnou, the carob trees "endure a lot" the drought. However, he assures that the lack of rain has exhausted them. If it doesn't rain soon, next year's campaign is not guaranteed, since it is during this period that flowering occurs. "The drought has caused a decrease of between 10% and 20% in weight of the carob, but the quality will be better, because the drier the carob is, the quality is higher. The chopping also comes out in better quality, but with less weight", emphasizes Cort.
In recent years, carob thefts have been one of the main headaches for producers. Despite the drop in prices for this product, Unió de Pagesos believes that it will continue to happen, because they are "very easy" to pick up and steal. "They shamelessly enter our farms with vans and fold the carob beans, we can only denounce and make raids with the Mossos," says Castellnou.
After meeting with the police force, the farmer says that the Mossos have promised to maintain controls both on the roads and in warehouses. In the case of the Mont-roig cooperative, they have also suffered robberies and its manager is confident that thefts will decrease this campaign as a result of the fall in prices. "These last years it had been a scandal, there were organized mafias," he adds.
