Fruit and vegetables enjoyed a boost when it came to value through the first five months of 2022

Apricots cherries blueberries on table Adobe

Spain’s stonefruit category saw export volumes fall

The value of Spain’s fresh fruit and vegetable exports climbed through the opening five months of the year.

Fepex reported that the value of fruit exports during the January-May period rose 2.1 per cent year-on-year to just over €4bn, while vegetable exports brought in €3.95bn, up 10.7 per cent.

This came despite a drop in total volumes across both categories, with fruit volumes down 1.9 per cent and vegetables dropping 3.4 per cent.

In the fruit category, apricots, cherries, peaches, plums and nectarines all saw export volumes slide, while there was growth in avocados, persimmons, apples and pears.

Despite the overall fall in vegetable export volumes, some categories saw an increase, including onions and garlic.

Fresh fruit imports saw a decline in both volume and value during January-May 2022, while vegetable import volumes rose 1.3 per cent.

”The behaviour of prices is very uneven, according to the analysis carried out by Fepex, and in some products it does not reflect the strong growth in costs,” Fepex noted. ”On the positive side, the recovery of tomato, cabbage and courgette prices stands out.”