Catalonia has broken the sales record for apple and pear stocks for the second month in a row according to produce association Afrucat.
Apple sales for April were 45 per cent higher than in the year-earlier period, with sales of Golden Delicious stocks up 60 per cent, while sales of Conference pear stocks were 56 per cent higher than in 2019.
The increase was mainly due to the fact that Spain was one of the few countries that bucked the downward trend in European topfruit production last season.
“Spanish apple and pear volumes grew 14 per cent and 4 per cent respectively, while European production registered a decrease of 20 per cent in apples and 12 per cent in pears,” Afrucat said.
“The rest of the main European producing countries suffered sharp declines – apple volumes were down 40 per cent in Poland and 8 per cent Italy, while pear output fell by 10 per cent in Belgium, 7 per cent in the Netherlands and 30 per cent in Italy.”
As of 30 April, apple stock levels stood at 104,314 tonnes, 28 per cent higher than last year, while pear stocks from Lleida (data from Girona was not available) totalled 16,023 tonnes, 7 per cent less than in 2019.
