Cherimoya exports to the EU from the province of Granada have increased by 28 percent just a month before the 2016-17 harvest is completed.
According to data provided to EFE by the Centre for Technical Assistance and Inspection of Foreign Trade (Soivre), an agency under the Ministry of Economy, more than 2.26 million kilos of this product have been exported up to April to the EU from the province of Granada, compared to the 1.76 million kilos shipped in the same period last year, representing an increase of more than 28 percent.
In the last month for which statistics are available, which is April, the main importer of the fruit was Portugal, with more than 62,830 kilos, followed by France, with 61,500 kilos, and Germany with 29,200 kilos. There have also been some exports to the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands.
If this growth trend continues, the 2016-17 harvest could be close to reaching the target of the Regulatory Council of the Designation of Origin, set at around two and a half million kilos.
The president of the Regulatory Council of the PDO, Antonio Sánchez, pointed out that sales are going well and that there is a good response from the foreign markets, which motivates the increase in the export volume.
The cherimoya campaign lasts for about nine months, starting in September and ending in May, thanks to the advances made in recent years to reduce the product's seasonality. The producers of the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) Chirimoya de la Costa Tropical de Granada-Málaga had expected to exceed 50,000 tonnes during the current season; a figure that will be reduced by around 15 percent due to the high temperatures that were recorded at the beginning of the campaign.
Sánchez said that the campaign has been marked by the sluggish start caused by those high temperatures, as a result of which, the season will come to a close with a production totalling 45,000 tonnes.
He added that more than 80 percent of the cherimoya production is sold in the Spanish market and the rest is exported to different countries.
The Regulatory Council has recalled that the only area of Europe in which cherimoya trees can be cultivated is in the south of Andalusia, in the coast strip from Motril to La Herradura, and in Malaga, in the region of La Axarquía. In total, there are more than 3,100 hectares, of which a little more than 2,500 are on the coast of Granada and more than 500 in Malaga.
Source: EFE
