The stone fruit season is coming to a close in the Murcia region. It seems that it has been a year that has seen some challenges for the sector. Marcel de Koning, of Molinense, a large grower of citrus, grapes and stone fruit in the region reports on how his company experienced the season."We've had approximately 30% less volume than we would ordinarily expect, dut to the cold temperatures in February. All stone fruit producers in the region had the same problem. The size of the fruit was also smaller."
However, it was far from bad news all round, as Marcel explains. "Our quality was very good this season, thanks to improvements in agricultural practice, combined with modernisation processes in our packing station and favourable weather during the harvesting period.
"There were also some good prices during the season. May and the beginning of June were notable. This was due to shortages in South Spain generally.
"For us our French apricots and early nectarine varieties performed the best this season, across all our markets."
Comparing this season to last year Marcel also reports a mixture of pros and cons.
"on the one hand it was difficult for us the reduction in volume made it difficult to fulfil the demand at the supermarkets. The flip side, however, was that demand was higher - and thus, so were prices - because we didn't have the E.coli issue we had last year."
Despite rising consumer confidence in the produce there were still demand issues however, which also related to the weather, though not in Spain.
"Towards the end of the season the weather in Northern Europe has been consistently bad,which saw demand fall off somewhat, though in general I would say we can be satisfied with this season."
Looking to the future Marcel says the company is looking at growth. "As some of our plantations are still quite young we expect an important increase in volume next year and for the coming three years we expect to double our production, so we can more easily fulfil our clients' demands."
For more information:
Marcel de Koning
Commercial Manager key Account
Molinense
Tel: + 34 968 61 51 11
Mob: +34 683 19 77 14
Fax: + 34 968 61 56 50
www.molinense.com