After the forecast for the European harvests of apricots, peaches and nectarines was given in April and May, Raphaël Martinez, manager of the Peaches and Apricots of France PDO, provided an update on the current configuration of the harvest.
“This year, the harvest arrived exceptionally early”
Overall, for peaches, nectarines, apricots and even plums, the year 2020 is marked by an exceptional precocity. “Some harvests arrived 10 days early. From week 24 (second week of June), we have significant volumes of peaches and nectarines, which is exceptional for France. The Bergeron apricots, usually harvested in July, were already picked last week. As for the first French plums, they were put on the market this weekend. Contrary to the rest of France, the climate has been warm and sunny here, which helped get such an abundant offer.”
“The current significant offer is faced with sluggish consumption”
This precocity has been bringing high volumes of stone fruit for a few days, compared to usual. “However, these relatively large quantities of products are faced with a still unsettled summer weather in France and Europe, and thus an unusual consumption rhythm. We can also wonder about the impact of the post-Covid situation on the current and future demand. Will consumers be more willing to indulge after the difficult period? Will their standard of living be too impacted, therefore hampering sales? If not going on holidays this summer, will they feel the need to consume more summer fruits? It is still too early to draw any conclusions. We are currently in a temporarily delicate situation due to these two conflicting phenomena, with more offer than usual and disappointing consumption levels.”
“The harvest is larger than usual, but it remains small overall”
Contrary to some European regions - such as Lleida in Spain which lost 200,000 tons of stone fruit due to hail storms - France was generally spared by the bad weather in June. However, the harvests are still in deficit compared to the previous season. “The harvest is larger than usual, but there is a real lack in the peach and nectarine offer, and even more for the apricots. This means that prices are rather high, regardless of the origin. Moreover, the trees that are less loaded with fruit, have been particularly sweet for three weeks. We are fully satisfied with the exceptional quality of this year’s harvest.”
“Consumers clearly prefer nectarines”
The demand still lacks dynamism, but consumers seem to be showing a clear preference for nectarines rather than peaches. “There is clearly an added value in nectarines compared to peaches, and this is confirmed year after year. The Spaniards and the Italians also experience daily that nectarines are much easier to sell than peaches.”
“Sometimes, there is a disparity between the desire for Made in France and the reality”
The health crisis clearly highlighted the desire from consumers, the government and large retailers to favor fruit and vegetables from French producers, whenever possible. However, according to Raphaël, despite the coherence between the promises and the actions of some stores, the same cannot be said of all retailers. “With this craze for products Made in France, there is a certain tendency from retailers to take advantage of this message. But in fact, we note that not all rise up to the promises. The challenge for unions is therefore to figure out how to address these differences between operators, so that those who claim to promote French agriculture truly play by the rules.”
For more information:
Raphaël Martinez
AOP Pêches et Nectarines de France
575 chemin du chai 30900 Nîmes
Phone: 04.66.84.12.12
r.martinez@ffl-occitanie.com
www.pechesetabricotsdefrance.fr