Even though the flowering of the early stone fruit trees in Lleida was late, the harvest started about a week earlier thanks to the continuous high temperatures in spring, which were accompanied by beneficial rains. The stone fruit season is advancing with strong demand, especially for apricots, and high prices for cherries.
"Fortunately, the earliest areas are not affected by drought and water cuts for irrigation, as is the case in the later areas. The harvest of the last two consecutive seasons was reduced by hail and frost, but now have good shipments of stone fruits. This year we have good quantities of fruit on the trees because, in many cases, it's been difficult to carry out the necessary thinning work that this year's abundant flowering has demanded," stated Xavier Juvillà, manager of Viyefruits, which is based in Alcarràs (Lleida). “This means that the sizes are generally lower than last season, at least for the early varieties,” he added.
According to Xavier, the demand for fruit is generally good at the moment. “We've received a lot of orders for apricot since around May 10 when the harvest started. Normally, our production coincides with Murcia's harvest for the first two weeks so it is more difficult to sell our product. This year, however, Murcia's apricot harvest was very affected by frost and heavy rains, so operators moved to Lleida earlier than usual."
The producer and exporter highlighted the results of the cherry season. “The weather conditions in Lleida were ideal for this crop, which is reflected in the productivity and quality of production. The cherry season in Lleida has been spectacular in terms of demand and price. Market supply has been much lower due to the floods that Italy has experienced since the start of the season, and to the significant drop in production in other production areas in Spain, such as Jerte, Alicante, and Almeria, among others, due to storms. On the other hand, Turkey seems to be focusing more on the Middle East and Russian markets. The arrival of goods from Greece is beginning to be noticed."
"Donut peach is perhaps the product with the quietest demand at the moment. Lleida still doesn't have large quantities and producers in Murcia are rushing to put their products on the market because its maturation has accelerated,” Xavier Juvillà stated.
For more information:
Xavier Juvillà
Viyefruit, S.A.
T: +34 616 982672
javier@viyefruit.com
www.viyefruit.com