France, the fourth biggest peach and nectarine producer in Europe, has now harvested half of its production in its main production regions Rhône-Alpes, Roussillon, Gard and Crau. The weekly yield is estimated at over 8,000 tonnes. In total a production of 290,000 tonnes is expected. This is 3% less than in 2011, when there was a production surplus in Europe as well as France.
The demand is also lower this year due to the bad summer weather, but the supply is too small to meet the domestic demand. This is because France exports 40,000 tonnes to Germany, Great Britain and the Benelux. According to Interfel 2.7 kg of peaches and 3.4 nectarines are consumed on average per household per year in France. To be able to meet the domestic demand, France imports 40,000 tonnes of peaches and nectarines from Spain. This country is the largest peach and nectarine producer in Europe with 2.984 mln tonnes, followed by Italy (1.5 million tonnes) and Greece (300,000 tonnes).
The demand is also lower this year due to the bad summer weather, but the supply is too small to meet the domestic demand. This is because France exports 40,000 tonnes to Germany, Great Britain and the Benelux. According to Interfel 2.7 kg of peaches and 3.4 nectarines are consumed on average per household per year in France. To be able to meet the domestic demand, France imports 40,000 tonnes of peaches and nectarines from Spain. This country is the largest peach and nectarine producer in Europe with 2.984 mln tonnes, followed by Italy (1.5 million tonnes) and Greece (300,000 tonnes).
Although the supply this year is slightly lower than last, it's a good season for the French peach and nectarine producers. The price that they receive for their fruit is 1.10 to 1.40 €/kg. Last year this was 0.70 to 0.90 €/kg. But the producers do have the highest employee costs in Europe at 11€/hour.
The sales price for the consumers isn't much different from that in 2010. White peaches costs 2.60 to 2.90 €/kg. This is at least 19% more compared to the same period last year.