The end of Murcia's campaign has overlapped with the early start of the season in Aragon and Catalonia. Spanish stone fruit sales are currently difficult due to the increase in supply in recent weeks, which is much larger than at the beginning of the summer of last year.
Spanish production is recovering significantly compared to 2022. The Ministry of Agriculture has estimated the stone fruit yield in 2023 - not including nectarines - at 1,220,911 tons, i.e. 29% more than in 2022, when the harvest was small due to spring frost.
Catalonia and Aragón, which have reached production peaks about two weeks earlier than normal, are the regions that have experienced the strongest recovery in production over 2022 (+40%). Murcia, which is finishing its season later than usual, is also still delivering fruit. In general, small sizes are prevalent in all stone fruit, especially peach and nectarine, due to the drought and high temperatures in spring.
"Donut peach, peaches, and nectarine sales have stagnated because there's much more supply in Aragon and Catalonia this year. Last year we had much less product due to frost issues," stated a grower and exporter from Aragon.
"In May, demand was bigger than supply. However, due to the earlier start of the harvest in Catalonia and Aragon and the late end of the season in Murcia and Extremadura, by mid-June, there was more supply than demand. As a result, prices have collapsed," stated the exporter, who highlighted that the donut peach was the product that was performing the worst.
“We think the situation will change in the coming weeks. So far, the large drop in yields in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna due to rainfall and flooding hasn't had any noticeable effect on the market," the grower and exporter stated.