The stone fruit season is already well underway in the Spanish province of Lleida. Apricots arrived more than two weeks ago, and nectarines, peaches, and flat peaches have also just started to be harvested. For the time being, there are limited volumes of Catalan fruit, and, in general, there is slightly more demand than supply on the markets.
Lleida's fruit production is expected to be around 5% lower than last season due to the impact of hail, which mainly affected apricots, as they were at a more advanced stage of development.
"We have been harvesting apricots for almost three weeks now and, at the moment, small volumes of all other species, except for platerinas, are arriving in the warehouses," says Xavi Juvillà, Manager of the Lleida-based company Viyefruit, "Volumes are increasing slightly every day, but they are still limited. In Lleida, we won't be working at full capacity until July."
Although the cherry harvest has been significantly delayed, Lleida's stone fruit harvest has started only around four days late, according to Juvillà, and for the time being, there is no overlapping with other growing areas or countries.
"This year, we are not seeing any oversupply issues in the market, which is what usually happens at this time of year due to the confluence of various growing areas. The Region of Murcia, like other areas, doesn't have a large production due to the impact of hail. The frosts in Turkey, Moldova, Hungary, and Greece have caused their productions to fall, and this is taking a toll on the demand and prices, especially for cherries. Fruit prices are stable, and for some products they are actually on the rise," says Xavi.
"Demand is still slightly above supply at the moment. In the previous weeks, the weather wasn't very good in central and northern Europe, so although supply wasn't very abundant, demand wasn't high either, and there was a good balance. Now there is increasingly more production, but demand is also taking off," he says.
For more information:
Xavier Juvillà
Viyefruit, S.A.
Tel.: +34 973 79 00 50
[email protected]
www.viyefruit.com