The cherry campaign started about 15 days ago in the Jerte Valley with the first varieties grown in the area. "The volumes for now are very small, as is always the case at the beginning, and we are already almost finished with the extra-early varieties," says Eloy Buenadicha Cobos, of the company Sol del Valle.
"The quality is not as good as expected and the calibers have fallen a little short, which we believe is due to the heat, because the trees have not had an excessive load of those varieties. Fortunately, for the mid-season and late varieties we expect more normal sizes, based on how the trees are currently loaded."
"Later on, within a month at least for the earliest areas, the picota cherries will start to be harvested," says Eloy.
"For now, the demand for this first fruit has been in line with that of previous years. We have been seeing quite a lot of interest, although this doesn't mean much yet, since there is little supply, so it can be easily absorbed by the existing demand. We will see what happens when the supply increases. In any case, it is worth recalling that, even though the early stone fruit can set some price trends, Spanish cherries are unrivaled in the import market."
The fruit usually achieves very good results in the domestic market when in season, but it is also highly export-oriented. "At Sol del Valle, we sell the fruit to markets across the entire Iberian Peninsula, including Portugal." This market is very interesting for Spanish cherries, as despite producing about 24,000 tons in 2021 (almost twice as much as France), according to Faostat data, the country's cherry imports almost quadruple exports.
"It is very difficult to make forecasts, because there are so many factors coming into play each season, but at least this season, as usual, it's off to an exciting start."
For more information:
Sol del Valle
Avd. de Extremadura, 55
Tornavacas, Cáceres, Spain
Tel.: +34 655 485 267
info@cerezassoldeljerte.es
https://cerezassoldelvalle.es