Ronda expects to earn 700,000 euros from the sale of cork from its woodlands

Ronda council is expecting to earn about 700,000 euros from the sale of cork extracted from its forests this season.

Cork harvesting, which has just started, are focused this year in the Malaga province part of the Los Alcornocales Natural Park, in the municipality of Cortes de la Frontera, from woodlands that the Ronda town hall owns. The work areas are dotted throughout the area or "majada" of Diego Duro, which iss divided into three parts - and cork harvesting is concentrated in the third section, which has a surface area of 2,470,000 square metres.

Workers are hoping to obtain a production of about 5,000 quintals, equivalent to 230,000 kilos of cork. "The technical studies carried out already show that it will be of high quality," said the former councillor for Forestry, Jesús Vázquez. The new councillor for this department is now Juan Carlos González, following the municipal elections in May.

Ronda town hall usually tenders the sale of this cork, which is mainly used for the manufacture of stoppers for wine bottles.

Money made from sales of the cork depends on many factors but is mainly influenced by quality and the variability of prices across the market, Vázquez added.

Last season, Ronda town hall received 795,000 euros from cork sales, almost 157,000 euros more than initially forecast. The quantity, 284,468 kilos, was lower than in 2021, but the quality was higher.

The production was purchased by several companies (12 tendered), and divided into lots. Américo de Sousa e Filhos, was awarded the first lot, which consisted of 18.32 metric quintals of bornizo cork, which were put up for bidding at an initial price of 100 euros per metric quintal and sold at 107 euros; and 1,127.97 metric quintals of reproduction cork (initially quoted at 220 euros per metric quintal, plus IVA sales tax, with the final price being 317 euros per metric quintal plus IVA).

The second lot, purchased by Agrícolas Benítez, consisted of 44.31 metric quintals of bornizo cork (at 101 euros per metric quintal) and 828.70 metric quintals of reproduction cork, initially at 195 euros per metric quintal plus IVA, with a final unit price of 293.

The third lot was awarded to the Spanish company Cork Suply. In this case, 30.43 metric quintals of bornizo cork (at 100 euros per metric quintal) and 362 metric quintals of reproduction cork were sold, initially at 214 euros per metric quintal, plus IVA, the final unit award price being 301 euros per metric quintal plus IVA.