Less stone fruit, positive campaign for Spain

The sectorial departments of the Spanish Association of fruit and vegetables’ Producers-Exporters FEPEX gathered last 17th of July in Lleida to assess the campaign’s developments so far. The meeting also attracted representatives of all Spanish producing areas: Andalusia, Extremadura, Murcia, Valencian Community, Aragón, La Rioja and Catalonia.
FEPEX general manager José María Pozancos highlighted that offer and demand are currently balanced thanks to lower volumes of stone fruit in Europe compared to initial estimates. “The Italian supply is actually reduced, while the French one has not entered yet in full operations - Pozancos explained -. This made the fruit prices to rise by 20-30%. However, it is still too early to evaluate if this is going to prove positive for the campaign on the whole: sometimes it is better to sell more volumes at lower prices”, Pozancos concluded.
For what concerns the weather, FEPEX general manager pointed out that the rain and wind storms occurred at the beginning of the season in southern Spain caused relevant losses to the stone fruit cultivations - mainly nectarines, apricots and cherries. “Fortunately, now that harvesting has began the weather is pretty good”.