Producing countries demand more effective sanitary regulations from Europe

The European peach and nectarine contact group is made up of France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The heads of the sectoral associations of the four countries and administration officials met in Fundao, Portugal, on June 14 and 15 and asked the European Commission to amend the regulations on the authorization of the use of plant protection products to make it more flexible between Member States.

Authorizations by zone

It has also been agreed to request the European Commission that authorizations of plant protection products be made on a zonal basis and not by Member State, in order to have greater availability of these products. In this way, when a product is authorized, for example, in Spain, it will be automatically authorized in all the countries of the southern zone. Currently, regulation 1107/2009 on the marketing of plant protection products establishes three zones for the authorization of plant protection products: zone A, which corresponds to northern countries, such as Denmark, Sweden or Finland; zone B of central European countries, such as Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria... and zone C, made up of southern countries, such as Spain, France, Greece and Italy.

Similar forecasts in Spain and France, 7% less in Italy

At the end of April, Spanish production seemed similar to last year's, depending on the weather during the first half of May. Finally, hailstorms this month have affected some areas. In the contact group it was also reported that other producing countries such as Italy and France have also suffered hailstorms, without yet determining their impact, taking into account, moreover, that these countries enter the season later than Spain. Italy, for its part, estimated a reduction in production in 2025 of around 7% compared to last year. France estimates a production similar to 2024, highlighting the stabilization of the crop in recent years.

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