The harvest of the first Royal Gala apples has started this week in Girona with 11% higher volumes compared to last season. This is in contrast with the rest of European countries, where a sharp decline in the production is expected.
Also unlike in the rest of Europe, in Girona there is a good availability of large sizes. "The dry weather and heat waves in France and other countries in central Europe have caused small fruits to predominate in the new harvest. Although the trees have been stressed by the strong heat, we haven't been as affected, partly because we are applying new thinning techniques during the flowering season, instead of when the fruit was already setting, as we used to do before," says Llorenç Frigola, president of the PGI Poma de Girona.
On the other hand, the lack of cold at night has made it impossible to have an adequate gap between day and night temperatures, thereby preventing a rapid coloration.
Spain expects a 14% greater apple production this year, while the European average will fall by around 20%. Worthy of note is Poland's collapse by almost 45%. "In this context, prices may become remarkably high at the end of the season. However, at the moment there is still great pressure on the prices of our first sales. This is mostly due to the competition from Italy, which is selling its apples for very cheap prices, taking advantage of its abundant stocks from the previous year," says Llorenç Frigola.
The opposite happens with Chilean Royal Gala apples, which reach very high prices because of the apple market being already empty. "We are receiving calls from Chilean importers and other countries in the southern hemisphere asking us to supply them our apples."
Soon, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious and finally Granny Smith (the only variety for which volumes are expected to fall) will also start to be harvested. "This year, we expect around 5% less Granny Smith and good sales in markets in South America and the Middle East, in which Girona's exporters are highly specialized," he says.
"The apple campaign is promising because of the lack of good volumes and sizes in Europe, although we'll still have to wait and see what Italy and France are doing. It seems that Spanish consumers are becoming increasingly aware about the advantages of buying local products and we hope that this social responsibility trend continues growing. The challenge will be to convince large distributors of the same," said Llorenç Frigola.
Llorenç Frigola Vidal
PGI Poma de Girona
M: +34 670 080 708
T: +34 972 75 56 89
lfrigola@mooma.cat
www.mooma.cat