The garlic harvest started a month ago in southern Spain and is now moving on to La Mancha, where there are good prospects in terms of quantity, quality, and calibers after some difficult years due to the weather, causing some great losses.
"We are expecting the first good garlic season after three difficult years. The rains have been beneficial, and what has been harvested so far is in good condition, but there is still a long way to go until the end of the harvest in August," says Alexander Ankudinov, head of exports and overseas logistics at Amefruits.
"After three years of bad seasons, the total volume of garlic harvested has dropped by up to 40%. In the 2024/2025 season, some growers put it in cold storage, aiming to try to recover the money lost. Due to this shortage, up to three times more was paid for a kilo of unprocessed garlic at the end of the season than at the beginning," says Ankudinov.
The Alicante-based company grows and markets purple, white spring, and violet garlic, and produces peeled garlic, crushed garlic paste, and black garlic. It cultivates around 600 hectares and imports an insignificant amount. In total, they handle approximately 30 million kilos a year.
"Our main markets are Europe, the United States, Japan, and Australia. Each country has different tastes. For example, Poland wants violet garlic; Italy prefers it white, and France and Germany mostly go for purple. In the U.S., there's a preference for large sizes sold in bulk, because packing garlic in nets makes it significantly more expensive. Garlic in nets usually comes from China, where labor costs are not so high," says the manager.
As of March, the euro-dollar exchange rate "Has risen considerably, from 1.05 to 1.16. That means that a box of peeled garlic now costs 10% more, not to mention another 10% because of the new tariff. This is having an impact on sales and, as a consequence, importers are asking us to lower prices to make up for it. The situation is more complicated than before," says Ankudinov.
Traditional white and purple garlic losing ground
"White spring and purple garlic are the most cultivated. In fact, these are the same garlic; only the color of the skin changes. I think the traditional white variety is increasingly less present because it has no stalk between the cloves and has a shorter shelf life in cold storage. We have also heard that less purple garlic has been planted, and this is the one usually fetching the highest prices because of its flavor and pungency. We will see if that's the case in July and August, which is when the harvest begins," says Ankudinov.
The Spanish season overlaps with that of California and China. Alex says that "it is true that there's plenty of Chinese garlic and it's cheap, but there are reasons for that. Spring garlic is the same garlic that can be grown in China, but crop rotation is not always properly implemented there. And some of the crop protection products used there are banned in our country. That is why Spanish garlic is still preferred."
Garlic is a product that involves a lot of expenditure, including energy, as it is kept at -3 °C for many months. The manager says that "this represents 30% of the final price." Another significant cost in Spain, which is not as big in China, is labor. "This represents another 30% and includes harvesting, sorting, and packaging."
Another expense to be taken into account is ship freight, "which is generally 50% more expensive than it was five years ago," says Ankudinov, adding that "the service is also not necessarily better. Week-long delays or the obligation to book cargoes many days in advance are now more common. We export via the port of Algeciras and, lately, it's been too busy there, with truck drivers having to wait many hours to deliver or pick up goods."
This rise in costs is even more significant in the case of organic garlic, whose final price can be twice as high as that of conventional garlic. An uncertain future is in sight, as "less is being produced because there's a lack of phytosanitary products, a lot is discarded, and small sizes abound," says Ankudinov.
For more information:
Alexander Ankudinov
Amefruits
Tel.: +34 966 740 393
Tel.: +34 661 88 87 83
[email protected]
https://www.amefruits.com