The apricot season has already been underway for a week in the Spanish region of Murcia, where the extra-early varieties are quickly giving way to the semi-early ones, for which a notable drop in production has been confirmed.
"This lower production is mainly due to the rains in March, which caused a large part of the flowers and fruit of these varieties that were in bloom to fall to the ground, although the extent of the losses varies depending on the area," says José Antonio Martínez, of Early Fruit.
"In the Albudeite area, where we are located, the flowering starts a little earlier, so we were spared from the impact of the rains, but in municipalities such as Pliego, there has been a significant drop of up to 80% in the production of these semi-early varieties. As far as the later varieties, such as Flopria, are concerned, production is going quite well, with no significant losses."
"On the other hand, due to this lower production, the fruit's sizes are really good; in fact, calibers will be considerably larger than last year, so the fruit will fetch a better price, and we'll also have lower labor costs and a better market in general," says José Antonio.
The better prices expected this season will serve to partly make up for the lack of production of a fruit whose acreage has also been reduced "due to poor yields," says José. "For the time being, we are optimistic because, despite the drop in the production of certain varieties, we are obtaining really good quality fruit in sizes that are in high demand. At Early Fruit, we started last week with the Borsalino variety, with which we are already done, and now we are working with the Cebas Red apricot. This is a spectacular variety in terms of color and flavor, and we are very happy with it."
For more information:
Early Fruit S.L.
Albudeite, Murcia, Spain.
Tel.: +34 657 333 098
https://earlyfruitsl.com/