Greece: Difficulties for marketing of perishable products

At the moment, fruit traders in Greece are facing significant difficulties in the transport of fresh…

At the moment, fruit traders in Greece are facing significant difficulties in the transport of fresh and perishable products, such as peaches, apricots, cherries and nectarines, as a result of the "freezing" of financial transactions due to the closure of banks and restrictions on capital movement imposed by the Ministry of Finance.

The first signs of this are already becoming clear in the domestic market, with a substantial reduction in the volume of orders from dealers and retail chains, partly because of the difficulty in making payments and transfers, but also due to the insecurity that has spread among consumers, which has taken a negative toll on consumption.

A 20% drop has been registered in the volume of orders from supermarkets during the last few days. In an interview to Agronews, Thanasis Chaloulis, president of ASEPOP Tyrnavou, added that there have been problems with the prices agreed upon in advance. He states that the problem is still mainly affecting the domestic market, with the situation appearing to be more controlled when it comes to exports, "which could serve as a solution, since transfers from abroad are not limited by capital controls."

Similarly, the head of ASEPOP Velvento, Nikos Koutliampas, noted that "exports so far have been carried out properly." He recommends preventing the growth of panic, which could lead growers to sell their products quickly under any conditions, with the risk of this leading to a collapse in prices.

Both interlocutors expressed the hope that the market situation will normalise soon as "it won't be sustainable for too long before it has serious consequences."