The live flower and ornamental plant sector is the agricultural sector that has been most affected by the crisis caused by the Covid-19 virus, as it has suffered a total drop in consumption both nationally and internationally which will entail the bankruptcy of all nurseries and garden centers in Spain. For this reason, FEPEX has asked the Ministry of Agriculture to approve urgent extraordinary measures, including an extraordinary system of market withdrawals and an ICO liquidity line for nurseries.
Together with the collapse of household consumption and the closure of sales outlets, both in Spain and in the EU, the sector has also been deprived of sales linked to traditional festivals, such as Fallas, Easter and Father's Day, leading to a situation of total bankruptcy, with no prospect of recovery in the coming months.
According to the Secretary General of FEPEX, Jose María Zalbidea, the situation is so serious that the majority of growers, nurseries, garden centers, etc. are giving up on this season and the only thing they are hoping for is to obtain sufficient liquidity to generate some debt and continue their activity in the coming months.
Since this is the only agricultural sector that does not have access to CAP aid, FEPEX has asked the Ministry to request extraordinary crisis management measures from the European Commission through an extraordinary regime of market withdrawals, which would be compensated at market prices and be open to all affected companies that prove their marketing activity. They should also establish efficient administrative procedures to facilitate their management. Furthermore, FEPEX has requested the immediate establishment of an ICO liquidity line for nurseries, similar in content to that sometimes adopted for other sectors, in order to facilitate the producers' transition to the next campaign.
FEPEX has also proposed for the nursery sector to have access to the exceptional measures included in Royal Decree 8/2020, namely the procedures for the suspension of contracts and reduction of working days due to force majeure. Also, the agricultural insurance for plants and flowers should include the Covid-19 virus in the list of extraordinary risks covered by the Consortium of Compensation.
Ornamental horticulture products represent 3.2% of the final plant production (FPP), with a cultivated area totaling approximately 4,500 hectares and a value at origin of the national production amounting to more than 1,000 million Euro. The main producing regions in Spain are Andalusia, the Region of Valencia, Catalonia, the Canary Islands, Galicia, Aragon and Murcia. The social profitability of the production is very high, given the huge amount of labor involved, with about 40,000 jobs concentrated in areas where dependence on this sector is very high.
For more information:
FEPEX
www.fepex.es