Spanish fruit and vegetable exports during the first four months of 2010 fell by 8 per cent in volume compared with the same period a year before, as a result of the heavy rains and flooding in areas of the country earlier this year.
According to national producer-exporter federation Fepex, exports from the country between January and April dropped to 3.4m tonnes by volume and by 4 per cent in value terms to €3.5m.
Vegetable exports during the period dropped by 7 per cent in volume, with tomatoes, lettuce and peppers among the products that experienced the most notable decreases.
Tomato shipments in particular fell by 15 per cent to 394,477 tonnes, while lettuce and pepper exports dropped by 10 per cent and 8 per cent respectively compared with the same stage a year before.
However, the total value of vegetable exports during the four month period increased by 6 per cent year-on-year to €1.8m, with the value of lettuce shipments in particular up by 22 per cent to €330m.
A similar picture was seen with fruit exports, where although export volumes dropped by 9 per cent to 1.7m tonnes, the value of these shipments rose by 1 per cent to €1.5m.
Despite this, several crops were particularly badly affected by the elements, with strawberry exports down by 15 per cent to 128,096 tonnes, while lemon volumes decreased by 30 per cent to 156,629 tonnes.
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