Freshuelva has reported that the 2022-2023 campaign ended with a total production of 243,310 tons of strawberries, i.e., a 10% decrease over the previous campaign.
The strawberry campaign was plagued by ups and downs, and the weather had a significant incidence on it. The excessive heat recorded during the planting season forced producers to replant up to almost 30% of the plants in some cases. The high cold at the beginning of the year contracted production a lot, and the excessive heat recorded in the month of April reduced the quality of the fruit.
This translated into a 10% decrease in production and a slight increase in prices over the previous season, which, together with the increase in costs that the sector continues to face, resulted in a significant decrease in the profitability of the crop.
Other berries
The raspberry season ended with a production of 47,750 tons, i.e., 4.5% less than in the previous season. The first part of the Raspberry campaign was marked by low market prices and, above all, very high competition from third countries such as Morocco.
The blueberry campaign also ended with a 10% decrease in production and a total of 53,190 tons produced. This lower production was mainly due to the delay in the arrival of low temperatures that did not allow the crops to accumulate enough cold hours. In addition, the cold weather in the last weeks of February and early March reduced calibers. Moreover, the recovery in production during April and May was met with strong competition in the markets, especially from third countries such as Morocco, which caused an oversupply, a fall in prices, and a lower supply in June.
Finally, blackberry production stood at 2,000 tons, a very similar volume to the one achieved in the previous campaign.
The value of exports
Strawberry production might have been low, but the value of exports stabilized. As a result, the export value up until May increased by 0.22% over the same period of the previous year, standing at almost 571 million euro.
Blueberry exports increased by 1.27% and amounted to almost 219 million euro. Blackberries experienced the largest increase, and its exports amounted to 14.3 million euro (+61.2%).
Raspberry exports up to May amounted to 222.5 million euro (-3.65%).
Source: freshuelva.es