The 2023 cherry campaign has started recently in the early areas of Mequinenza, a town in the Spanish province of Zaragoza, located on the banks of the Ebro River. This is an ideal area for cherry cultivation due to its microclimate, which allows it to have the first open ground cherry productions in Europe.
"We started with the first harvests on Tuesday, April 25, ten days earlier than last year's late start," said Carlos Llambrich, manager of Llamfruit, "It has hardly rained and temperatures have been warm since March, so we are starting with one of the best years in terms of quality and size. Some rain is expected next week, but we hope our plantations won't be affected."
Although the production is recovering from last year's low volumes, "yields remain slightly below the productive potential due to the impact of the heat during the flowering; something that is usually more noticeable in some mid-season and late varieties. In general, we are talking about slightly lower productions than expected in the northeastern areas of Spain," said Carlos Llambrich. "The good thing is that the trees are rested thanks to last year's low harvest and this is having a very positive impact on the product's quality," he said.
"At the moment, we are only working in the domestic market, as volumes are still limited, but very soon we will start working with some distribution chains in other European countries, as there is a lot of interest to start with the cherry season. We will distribute mainly in Europe, as well as Dubai and Hong Kong," said Llamfruit's manager.
The company, which has new plantations that are gradually coming into production, expects to sell around one million kilos of cherries this season. Besides, it has expanded its packing plant with another 1,000 square meters, with new chambers for the reception and shipment of the production and a new hydrocooling system.
For more information:
Carlos Llambrich
Llamfruits Cherry S.L.
+34 618 996 701
carlos@llamfruit.com
www.llamfruit.com