Small apricot harvest expected at European level

The 2020 edition of medFEL was canceled due to the health crisis. Usually the show is the place where the harvest forecasts are revealed at the European level. Despite the postponement of the event, here are the 2020 harvest forecasts for the apricot.

 

 

 

This year 2020 presents itself with a very small harvest of apricots at the European level. With 400,000 tonnes forecast, it is necessary to go back to 2003 and 1998 to find weaker harvests with 390,000 tonnes and 365,000 tonnes respectively. A succession of climatic hazards affected the various European production areas. The southern or Mediterranean production areas experienced an exceptionally mild winter, with few hours of cold and very high temperatures in December and February with maximums sometimes above 25 °C. This has not made it possible to satisfy the cold hours necessary for the dormancy of certain varieties, resulting in a scanty, erratic, heterogeneous flowering and a production deficit.

 

 

 

At the end of March, it was a cold wave that affected the more northern or more continental regions such as Aragon, Catalonia (Lleida), the Rhône valley, northern Italy and Greek Macedonia with frost which impacted many orchards. Then in April it was the hail in Castilla la Mancha and the rain in the Mediterranean basins which caused another few tonnes of fruit to be lost. At the end of April, harvesting has already started in the Murcia region. Most of the other regions will follow in early May with the early varieties.

 

 

 

GREECE

 

With 78,500 tonnes forecast, Greek apricot production in 2020 will be 13% lower than last year and 23% higher than the 2014/2018 average. The start of the harvest should be a little later than in 2019.

 

 

 

SPAIN

 

In 2019, with 110,233 tonnes, Spanish production recorded a 28% drop in production compared to 2018. This year's 2020 harvest is forecast to drop 15% for the second consecutive year, following an overall drop in production in all basins. With 93,740 tonnes we will be 25% below the average for the last 5 years.

 

 

 

ITALY

 

Italian production is expected to be around 136,000 tonnes, down 56% from last year and 40% below average. Even if all the production basins have been impacted, it is Emilia Romagna which shows the largest drop, going from 107,000 tonnes in 2019 to 11,000 tonnes forecast in 2020.

 

 

 

FRANCE

 

The forecast for French production is 93,500 tonnes, a drop of 29% compared to 2019 which was already a loss year and a drop of 34% compared to the 2014/2018 average. Harvests begin around May 15/20 in the earliest areas.