Spain: Cherry production in the Jerte Valley decreases by 60%

This cherry season has been disastrous in the Jerte Valley and it will be a campaign to forget. "Production is now 60% lower than last year on the same dates. We were going to have a good cherry campaign, but the adverse weather conditions before the start the campaign dwindled much of the early cherry production," said Andres Alvarez, manager of Valgren.

"After 2 or 3 weeks of having a good quality but low volume, its raining again in the highest producing areas. Thankfully, these rains haven't affected us as much as we expected. Due to the little volume we have this year, we have not had enough supply for large retailers or to export to our clients in Asia, the Baltic, and Scandinavian countries," he said.

"My father founded this company when he was a producer of cherries in the Jerte Valley. Today the company already has 3,000 meters of cold, hydrocooling, fast precooling tunnels, and an optical sizer with 21 outputs. We created this company to serve large-scale distribution, which is supplied from origin and we make practically no purchases in the central markets. Part of the cherry production is our own and the other part is from collaborators."

Additionally, the company indirectly produces, through partners, 3 to 4 million kilos of stone fruit in Lerida and some strawberries in Huelva. "Although the land is not ours, we finance the productions of our partners by providing them with the necessary inputs," he said. "This year, we have grown as an importer of top fruit from the southern hemisphere, both from South Africa and Chile, to supply the domestic market."

Valgren has two market stalls in the wholesale market in Madrid additional to the five stalls that Frutas Olivar has, and three auxiliary cold and packing facilities.

For more information:

Andrés Álvarez Perea
Valgren
T: +34 927472726
M: +34 609508949
andresalvarez@valgren.com
www.valgren.com