The value of fruit and vegetables from the Spanish province of Almeria, a key production region in the country, increased by 2.3 per cent during the 2009/10 campaign, despite a “significant reduction” in the production of melons, tomatoes and green beans.
This was the assessment delivered in the Cajamar Foundation’s report on the Almerian 2009/10 fresh produce campaign, which found that the fall in volumes in the south-eastern province had caused prices to rise, especially during the second half of the season.
The Foundation, which is run by regional bank Cajamar, said this increase in prices led to the value of fruit and vegetables produced in the period reaching €1.4m, 2.3 per cent more than the season before and 2.4 per cent more compared with the average for the last five years.
At the report’s presentation, Cajamar Foundation’s David Uclés highlighted the “marked decline” in green bean production, which he said had fallen by 20.3 per cent compared with the previous campaign.
He said a “slow reduction” in melon production, which had been seen over the past seven campaigns, had accelerated during the recent season, dropping to over 14 per cent less than the year before as a result of a “loss of competitiveness”.
Mr Uclés said tomato production in Almeria had been equally affected, but in this case poor weather conditions during the early campaign and problems with ‘Tuta absoluta’ infestations later on were primarily to blame.
More positively, he said production of aubergines and cucumbers had risen substantially, reaching historic levels during the campaign.
