After two years strongly affected by spring frosts, this year the European stone fruit harvest should have increased, driven by the recovery of the Spanish production, especially that of nectarines and Paraguayo peaches, and of the French, which would have grown for the second consecutive year. This growth would have also offset the declines in Greece and Italy, significantly worsened by the spring rains.
"At the beginning of the season it seemed that there was going to be a shortage of fruit in Italy and early apricots were being exported from the Murcia area, but in the end, Italy has had enough fruit to supply both the domestic and international markets, and exports from Spain have not been significantly higher," said commercial agent José Guillem.
"France has had it similar, because there has been enough fruit in the country and the prices paid for Spanish fruit have not been fully profitable for producers. In fact, there have been times when Paraguayo peaches have been sold in pallets for 45 cents per kilo due to oversupply and a lack of good calibers," said José. "Peach and nectarine calibers have also been small, and prices have not been very good, although, fortunately, in this last part of the campaign, we've seen the arrival of the yellow peach from the Calanda area, which has brought an improvement to sizes and, with it, also to consumption and prices."
There is only yellow peach left in Aragon, which will remain available throughout September, and some red peaches in Lleida and Girona, in addition to plums, whose campaign will continue until almost November, said José Guillem. "Still, even though volumes have improved, in the end, this year won't be too good overall for producers or cooperatives due to the small calibers and low prices, which have made the higher production less marketable. In fact, final prices won't be to everyone's liking."
"Regarding plums, there is a shortage of Angeleno in Spain. It is being sold for between 70 and 75 cents per kilo in 5 kg lots in bulk, and in pallets at 60-65 cents, while in Italy last year the Angeleno plum was sold for as little as 20 cents. On top of there being a shortage since the beginning of the campaign, last week there were also hailstorms, which hit some fields in Extremadura that had yet to be harvested. One of the customers in Badajoz with whom I work has lost more than 100,000 kilos due to this incident."
"The citrus fruits arriving to the European market from other origins are large"
The stone fruit season has been quickly coming to an end in recent weeks, so the market is now setting its sights on the citrus campaign, which will kick off in a matter of weeks with the first Satsumas and extra-early varieties, and in which a noticeably lower production is expected.
"Some say the production could drop by up to 30% compared to last season (when there was already less fruit) in areas such as Andalusia, and that the fruit could have a pear-like shape as a result of the heat and low irrigation, although the quality would still be good. Calibers are expected to be smaller than in other campaigns. At the moment, small-sized citrus fruits are in demand for juice production, as large sizes are arriving from other origins, but when it comes to table oranges, there will continue to be a demand for large sizes," said José. "What we can assure is that the prices currently paid at origin are higher than last season's."
For more information:
José Guillem
Tel.: +34 670 68 94 89
[email protected]