The French cherry production will be 13% less this year than last year
and 10% less than the average of the last five years. This according to
figures published by the Ministry of Agriculture.
In the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur the production has been hit by bad weather conditions. During flowering it was cold and rain that caused less fruit. In both regions the area remained the same. Rhône-Alpes shows a decrease in production of 30% compared to last year and also in PACA a smaller harvest is expected. In 2011 the harvest was also not too good.
The expectation for the regions Languedoc-Roussillon is a little better. The area decreased by 2%, but the production only by 9%. The harvest is promising in Rousillion, but will be smaller in the Gard than last year. In the Pyrénées-Orientales the flowering period was without problems.
In the Midi-Pyrénées weather conditions were very favourable in the flowering period. It is expected that the harvest will be 8% bigger than the five year average, despite the fact, that here as well a decrease of 2% has been noted in the total area of orchards.