Plums, nectarines, peaches and cherries, in that order, are the most produced fruits in Extremadura in terms of volume. Plums are the flagship fruit. Between 60 and 70% of the Spanish production comes from Extremadura. In fact, Extremadura is also the main producing region in Europe.
With a production capacity of 120,000 tonnes, it is normal for between 90,000 and 100,000 tonnes to be produced in the 7,000 hectares that are cultivated in the fertile plains of the Guadiana River.
Extremadura has a total of 25,000 hectares devoted to fruit trees. Of these, 14,000 correspond to cherries and are located almost exclusively in the Jerte Valley.
"2015 was a good year in terms of both production and prices, and since then, we have had some difficult campaigns, but without a doubt, this year's has been the most difficult," says Miguel Ángel Gómez, manager of the Association of Fruit Growers of Extremadura (Afruex), which brings together 90% of the region's fruit producers.
Gómez talks about an overlap of negative factors as it hadn't been seen for a long time, and which has had a negative impact not only on the producers, but also on the volume of labour generated during the campaign.
In March/April, there was a poor fruit setting due to excess water and too cold temperatures at specific times. In May, there was the impact of hailstorms.
Factors
The report prepared by the Council for the Environment and Agrarian Policies to ask the government for the area to be declared as seriously affected by emergencies (a former catastrophic area) is devastating. The storms in May caused damage to crops worth 32,039,477 Euro and the loss of 675,769 wages.
Moreover, of the 36,343.47 hectares that have been affected, 14,823.76 hectares have suffered the full destruction of their production. A significant part of these hectares are fruit trees.
These are outstanding figures for a subsector (Extremadura's fruit) which generates "a huge turnover, totalling about 300 million Euro per year, and 70% of that money is generated from sales abroad," explains the head of Afruex.
Extremadura's latest data on the income generated from fruit exports are remarkable. In 2017, 169.5 million Euro worth of fruit were shipped to foreign markets, but in 2016, that figure had been even higher: 178.9 million Euro. It was also better in 2015, as Extremadura's fruit growers made 203.5 million Euro from the sale of their products outside of Spain. This statistic is from the Spanish Federation of Producers and Exporters of Fruits and Vegetables (Fepex), based in turn on data from the General Directorate of Customs.
The turnover is obviously linked to the production and prices each year. These two factors are now negative, "although it will all depend on how plums do. The first variety is already in the market and the last one will arrive in September. If good prices are paid for the plums, we will be able to salvage the campaign," says Gómez.
So far, the peach and nectarine production has been around 20% smaller compared to a normal harvest. That percentage rises to 50% in the case of plums. "Plums are the key, and we'll still have to wait a few more days to know how big the production will be and whether the price will go up, as it should," says José Aurelio García.
An analysis from Fepex reveals that weather-related problems have caused great losses, especially hailstorms and frost.
"These bad weather conditions are also taking a toll on stone fruit consumption. Still, there is widespread concern in the sector, because besides the impact from the cold temperatures, consumption has been falling in recent years," concludes the organization in a report released at its general assembly, held at the end of spring in Villanueva de la Serena.
"It is true that in Europe, as well as in other foreign markets that are essential for us, we've had a cold spring and that does not exactly make early stone fruit varieties appealing. Now we have to wait and see how the fruit does in summer," stresses Gómez.
"From mid-June, it was hot in Europe and consumption didn't increase. I think that the lower consumption alone is not enough reason to explain the low prices. Now we'll see whether the heat leads to a market revival," says García.
"We started fifteen days later than usual and the harvest is currently smaller, but the quality, at least in my plot, is better than in other campaigns," concludes Ramos.
The producer points out that the growing costs are high and that low prices, together with a significant decrease in production, "could cause many problems."
Miguel Ángel Gómez points out that getting stable prices in the stone fruit sector is almost impossible. "We suffer price oscillations that other agricultural sectors never have to face. The problem is not that prices change every on a weekly basis, or every two week, there can be huge variations in a matter of days, or hours," he stresses.
Source - http://www.freshplaza.com
