Soft fruit producers from Spain, Italy and France have delivered a positive forecast for the upcoming southern European strawberry campaign, with production expected to remain stable and fruit quality likely to be high.
At a meeting of the Spanish-French-Italian strawberry group, held last week in Perpignan, France, leading representatives of the sector from the three countries confirmed a good forecast for the new season, with the total production area expected to be similar to 2010.
In a statement, Spain’s representatives - berry association Freshuelva and national federation Fepex - said that it was anticipating “very good” strawberry quality this season, with the likely total production estimated at 245,000 tonnes. The groups said Spanish strawberry production area would remain “practically identical” to last year, at 6,400ha.
France’s strawberry sector, represented by producer organisation AOPN Fraise, has also forecast a similar production area to 2010 and a total volume of 30,000 tonnes.
Fepex said the meeting’s Italian delegates had forecast a “slight reduction” in their country’s total strawberry production area this year, to 3,500ha.
The strawberry group is one of several such cross-border initiatives set up by the Spanish-French Mixed Committee for fresh produce, which last year added Italian representatives to its number. The expanded Spanish-French-Italian committee is scheduled to meet for the first time in April in Rome.
