"Focus on the early stonefruit season in expansion"
El Ciruelo sales manager Cristina Gutierrez.
"It is an ideal combination for us," says sales manager Cristina Gutierrez during a visit to the packaging station in Cieza. "We are starting with the first stonefruit at the end of April and the season will run until the end of June, after which we can immediately start with grapes."
El Ciruelo has two packaging stations at its disposal. In one packaging station mainly grapes are packaged and the location in Cieza opened in 2004 is mainly focused on packaging stonefruit. The last location has a capacity to pack up to 600 tonnes of stonefruit per day. "The focus of extending the area is on the early season, when there aren't many other areas on the market yet. This is the advantage of Murcia compared to the production in Llerida and Extramadura," says Cristina. 600 people per day work in the El Ciruelo packaging station during the season in three shifts. Another 1,000 work in cultivation and harvesting. During the overlap with the grape season at the end of June the number of workers surpasses 3,000.
The current stonefruit season started especially early after a warm winter. "Large volumes immediately entered the market, while the demand wasn't that high due to the cold spring. The situation has now changed and we have to do all we can to meet the demand. Due to the good weather everyone is thinking of stonefruit and the supply is a bit tighter," says Cristina "The price formation has been quite stable, but we are looking at it day to day."
She believes the results of the rainfall haven't been as serious for the stonefruit as in the other Spanish cultivation areas. The stonefruit assortment consists of - in order of size - nectarines, Paraguayos, plums, peaches, apricots and a small volume of cherries. Cristina is positive about the stonefruit consumption. "The sales of paraguayos and apricots in particular show a rising line, whilst the consumption of peaches and nectarines remains more or less stable. Although much more Paraguayos have been planted, we only see the demand increase. As long as we continue to add value to the chain, I don't expect our growth to decrease."
The stonefruit is supplied throughout Europe with the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands as the main buyers. A breakthrough took place this year with the announcement of market access to the Chinese market for Spanish stonefruit. They are still waiting for the final signature. "When it has been signed we will be one of 3 companies that can export stonefruit to China. But we are presuming to start this export as of next season, says Cristina. She certainly sees the potential of the Chinese market, but remains realistic. "We will certainly try to export to China, but it won't be our biggest market. The early varieties are not suitable to put in a container for a month. Then you have to go to air freight, but this brings the necessary costs and risks with it."
El Ciruelo now also has organic product available in grapes, the organic activities for stonefruit are still in their first stages. "We are mainly investing in a sustainable cultivation and it is even called organic on other continents. But we are running tests with organic cultivation and the future will show what it brings," explains Cristina. "We also see the developments with new varieties come one after another. We try not to drive our customers crazy with them, but try to offer as many similar varieties recognisably for our customers during the season."
The sales manager says there is mainly competition from Morocco in the early season, followed later on by the other Spanish cultivation areas, Extremadura and Lerida , then Italy and France. “Compared to the other Spanish cultivation areas, Murcia has the advantage of the most sun hours and less rains which benefits the colouring and the firmness of the fruit."
Cristina names the water shortage as a threat to the cultivation. "The rain and basins aren't enough. This is why we distill the salt from seawater, this gives us a 100% water guarantee, but we have to deal with high prices. You are also always dependent on the weather with the summer fruit, both in the production and the sales. There are extra opportunities for us early in the season with high quality summer fruit and we are investing in this."
For more information:
Cristina Gutiérrez
Grupo El Ciruelo
+34 629 253 150
+34 968 630 645
Email: cristinagutierrez@elciruelo.com
www.elciruelo.com