Operators predict orange price increase despite VAT exemption

Is this due to the war or not…. ???

The largest Portuguese association of citrus fruit operators predicts an increase in the price of oranges in the coming months, due to the drop in production of around 50% and despite the reduction to 0% of the VAT applied to this fruit.

“With regard to oranges, it is almost guaranteed, or guaranteed, that prices will increase, because production will be very low, a drop of about 50%, and in this case prices will rise”, assured the president of the Association today to the Lusa agency. of Algarve Citrus Operators (AlgarOrange), José Oliveira.

The person in charge of the association that brings together 40% of citrus fruit operators in the Algarve insisted that “one thing is this 06% reduction of the products that make up the basket” of products with VAT, which will now have a rate of 0%, and in which orange is included and “another thing is the functioning market”.

“In the same way that last year there was a large production and prices were low, with little product, the tendency will be, naturally, for prices to rise”, explained José Oliveira.

For the president of AlgarOrange, “normally when there is an overproduction, in the following years there is a decrease in production”, although the weather conditions also influence prices: “This is normal over the years”, he added.

Regarding the measure negotiated by the Government to lower VAT, the person in charge of AlgarOranje thinks that “it is a correct measure”, but he returned to saying that “one cannot have the expectation that this measure will stop a possible price increase, because in the case of the orange product it will certainly not happen, due to the reality we have in terms of production.

From Diário Notícias