SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Aug 25 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Canary Islands Farmers and Livestock Association (ASAGA Canarias ASAJA) has made this Wednesday an appeal to encourage consumers to prioritize Canarian potatoes in their purchases compared to productions from the United Kingdom that have begun to arrive in the archipelago.
ASAGA Canarias estimates that currently about five million kilos of tubers remain in the cold rooms of different cooperatives, both in Tenerife and in Gran Canaria, waiting to be sold.
This volume of production will have to compete at the points of sale with imports that, as their presence in the markets increases, will go down in price, complicating the sales of Canarian potatoes with a higher price due to the high production costs that farmers bear for producing in an ultraperipheral, insular and fragmented territory, which has a negative impact on the profitability and viability of their farms.
The president of ASAGA Canarias, Ángela Delgado, underlines in a note that “always, but even more so in these times of economic crisis such as the current one and when there is an abundant local potato harvest, it is vital to bet on these products against the from outside, for freshness, quality and because buying here, the wealth stays in the territory “.
Since last January 1, 2021, the ‘potato from outside’ is one of the agricultural products that must pay 15% of AIEM, the Excise Duty on Imports and Deliveries of Merchandise, upon entering the Canary Islands, compared to the 10% that it paid last year.
This increase, which will be in force until 2027, was one of the demands of ASAGA Canarias to the regional Executive during the renewal of this tax, which functions as a protectionist instrument to safeguard local productions.
