Fepex Stonefruit Committee predicts good quality, some delays, and limited impact from the hail at the start of the campaign
This year’s Spanish stone fruit campaign will start slightly later than usual, with good sizes and quality expected, and little impact from the hail seen in parts of the country in recent weeks.
This was the conclusion of the Fepex Stonefruit Committee, which met this week to analyse the prospects for the upcoming season. The committee, which is made up of representatives from the main production areas of Murcia, Andalusia, Catalonia, Extremadura, Aragon, and La Rioja, said it expects the campaign to begin between one and two weeks late in the main production areas.
Volumes will ramp up from around mid-May in the earliest regions, such as Murcia. However, the weather in the first half of May will be decisive in determining the start of the season, and if temperatures rise this could be brought forward.
Regarding the hail, which fell mainly in parts of Aragon and Catalonia earlier this month, Fepex noted that the impact will be minor. According to Afrucat, the overall damage caused by the hailstorm on 19 April that affected the Plana de Lleida region was around 8 per cent of the area’s potential production, equivalent to a decrease of approximately 75,000 tonnes to the harvest.
Good quality is also expected, with sizes and volumes forecast to be similar to last year. Crop areas remain stable for all products and regions, with slight growth in apricot cultivation in Aragon and Catalonia.
The committee will take part in the next meeting of the stonefruit contact group comprising the sectors in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, which will be held in Portugal in the second week of May. Among other topics, progress in the joint work carried out on phytosanitary matters will be addressed.
During the meeting, Joaquín Gómez, president of Murcia-based association Apoexpa, was elected as the committee’s new president.
Commenting on the hail damage to production in Lleida in April, Manel Simon, president of Catalan fruit association Afrucat, said it was working with the Ministry of Agriculture to analyse the various available options to support those primarily affected by the hail and to anticipate what long-term actions should be taken to protect fields and power plants from the elements. One of the lines of action advocated by the association in this regard is support for protecting production through the installation of hail nets.
Simon said: “We have spoken on several occasions with Minister Ordeig about the need to look at countries like Hungary, which suffer repeated weather incidents in its plantations and where the state subsidises the installation of nets by 60 per cent”.
Spain exported 903,591 tonnes of stonefruit in 2024, valued at €1.468bn. By product, apricot exports totalled 95,903 tonnes worth €175mn; plum exports reached 77,219 tonnes worth €127mn; cherry exports reached 39,967 tonnes worth €139mn; peach exports reached 147,138 tonnes worth €217mn; nectarine exports reached 339,085 tonnes worth €495.5mn, and flat peach exports totalled 204,276 tonnes worth €315mn, according to data from the Department of Customs and Excise.
