Fruit & vegetables damaged by the cold in southern of Spain

The cold which also affected the south of Spain will lead to heavy losses in fruit and vegetables.

Proexport held a crisis meeting with producers and exporters in the region to assess the damage. Production areas: Guadalentín Valley, Campo de Cartagena, Mazarron and Aguilas (Murcia) and Pulp (Almeria) have suffered heavy losses caused by the cold.

Production of lettuce, artichokes and courgettes are particularly affected. The bad weather caused the destruction of 4,000 acres of lettuce, artichoke production is severely compromised.

The cold snap will reduce supply and, according to Proexport, will compromise Spanish exports during this Christmas period where demand is high in vegetables.

Lettuce exports reached 564,774 tons in Spain in 2009, of which 438,120 were from the region of Murcia. Spain is the main supplier of artichokes in Europe with 16,445 tons exported in 2009. Its first customers are Italy and France.

Source: Proexport