One of Andalusia's biggest stonefruit producers says 2018 is shaping up to be one of the most promising campaigns in recent memory thanks to the significant uprooting of trees last season following several loss-making years.
Speaking to ABC de Sevilla, José Rodríguez Carrascal of SAT Síntesis said that with the peach and nectarine season about to conclude in the province of Seville, the sector was optimistic that returns would significantly better than in 2017.
Averages prices have risen by up to 30 per cent this season after approximately a fifth of stonefruit orchards – mainly around the provinces of Seville and Huelva – were uprooted.
According to producer association Asociafruit, which brings together around 75 per cent of production in western Andalusia, the region is on course to export 52-55,000 tonnes, compared with 67,000 tonnes in 2017.
Rodríguez said the fall in supply, combined with a high quality crop resulting from favourable growing conditions throughout the winter, and the high temperatures in central and northern European market, had made 2018 a good year commercially.
Another factor that had helped the sector, said Rodríguez, was the grubbing of poorly performing extra-early varieties.
“Ten years ago there was huge enthusiasm for ultra early varieties that were low yielding and produced fruit of dubious quality,” Rodríguez told the Spanish journal.
“Last season showed that precocious production, combined with a very early climatic year, do not bring any advantage – quite the opposite in fact.
“Flooding the European market in April, when the supermarkets aren’t ready with their promotions, only results in lower prices.”
