Spanish stone fruit has been achieving very good commercial results since the season started, while watermelon is picking up again after a slump between late July and early August, which is a quiet time due to the school holidays. Meanwhile, the first citrus harvest forecasts point to a drop in production.
"At the moment, we are in the middle of the stone fruit season in Lleida and almost finished in Murcia, although we are also loading some products in Greece and Italy, such as apricot for example, which is already in short supply in Spain at the moment," says César Claramonte, CEO of Grupo Clasol, which recently started selling Limonera pears in Lleida.
"In general, we have had a smaller stone fruit harvest in both Murcia and Lleida, and record prices. I can't remember having seen such prices since I've been in this sector," says César. "Although it looks like the season will be shorter in general due to the lower supply, we will keep the majority of supply lines active until mid-September."
During its summer season, watermelon also accounts for a good share of this company's sales. "Since the beginning of the season, we have seen a very high demand for watermelon due to the hot summer throughout Europe; higher than the supply, in fact. At the end of July and until the beginning of August, the weather in central and northern Europe became worse, and demand plummeted. Moreover, countries such as Turkey and Hungary have been offering watermelons for extremely low prices, causing some chains to switch to those suppliers. The price war between chains caused watermelon prices to plummet, but with demand increasing this week, they are picking up again."
In terms of volume and turnover, citrus fruits are the most important products for Grupo Clasol. The citrus season will start at the end of September, and, for now, a drop in production is expected for both clementines and oranges compared to the previous season.
"The Navelina and Lane Late orange harvest will be lower both in Valencia and in the south of Spain," says César Claramonte. "Clementines have been significantly affected by the impact of hail in the main growing areas in the province of Castellon, and this will have an impact on Spain's overall production. In our case, we have around 1,000 plots with hail damage," he says.
The company is also currently working with raspberries from Portugal and blueberries from Romania, where they have their own plantations.
Clasol has opened new offices this year and hopes to increase its turnover and achieve better results than initially expected, despite the difficulties the sector has been facing due to the impact of drought.
For more information:
César Claramonte
Clasol
Tel.: (+34) 964585947
[email protected]
clasol.com
