Plum picking in the Lot-et-Garonne is just beginning. Last weekend the North of the region was very much effected by wind, hail, and 10-50mm of rain in 2 days.
Patrick Léger says that this did not happen at the worst time, “there is nothing disastrous for the time being, but it is just before picking”. He says that the plums this year are of a good calibre but they are fragile and more rain could damage them. As for prices, “negotiations were fixed a month and a half ago, and this year, after three difficult years, we are back to a normal price, as in 20% higher than that of last year.”
Jean-Luc Jagueneau, President of France Prunce says that the commercial forecast is good but that to fix a price the harvest and stocks need to be looked at. “These stocks, at a global level, are at their lowest. Harvest was bad in the Southern hemisphere and California” he says, “worldwide prices are increasing, and Chile, the largest producer, shook up the prices with 80,000 tons per year, and now has a lack of sufficient harvest”.
Contrarily to other fruits, the Russian embargo will only have a small effect on the global plum prices.
As for the weather, until the end of June it was fine, but “it is imperative that it stops raining, now we need three weeks of good weather to guarantee a good harvest. In any case we can say that we won’t have the volumes expected. We will probably lose 10-15% of our harvest under the trees, but acidity levels are good, and their is a good quality potential.” They will still have to wait ten or so days to see what the harvest will bring.