According to Eric Hostalnou, specialist crop forecaster from the Roussillon Chamber of Commerce, winter frosts have damaged stonefruit crops across Spanish and French producing areas to varying degrees.
He said: “In the Murcia region, they have not experienced such late March frosts - with temperatures falling to -6°C - for 30 years, so growers were not insured. This was the same in the Valencia and Tarragona areas. All the peach and apricot varieties suffered as they were already in bloom. Heavy rainfall in the Seville area has affected plum production and we expect less fruit volume this year. As a result, there will be a shortage of Spanish stonefruit supply from mid-May to June, which will help French growers’ supply to the market.
“French crops will also suffer from the cold weather snaps, but as production is later than in Spain, it is not possible to evaluate the damage yet. We will remain cautious, as there is a real risk of another drop in temperature. We will have actual production numbers to discuss with the participants at the Europech forum.”
The annual Europech forum will be held on April 28-29 at the Palais des Congres in Perpignan, to discuss and address issues relating to this year’s European stonefruit harvest.
The focus will be on improving industry co-ordination and policy development and debating the results of several surveys conducted for discussion at the forum -- results from a study relating to crop and harvest information and another on private labelling and retail quality. Other topics to be discussed include the effects of global warming on stonefruit orchards, analysis of production dynamics, and European crop forecasts for 2004.
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