The Spanish region of Murcia has consolidated its position as one of the leading European exporters of stonefruit having increased its shipments during the past year by 31 per cent to 74,261 tonnes.
Germany, France, Italy and the UK received almost 65 per cent of Murcia’s stonefruit exports last year, which reached a total value of €104m, according to Murcian daily La Verdad.
During 2008, more than 100,000 tonnes of stonefruit from Murcia was sold, consolidating the region’s position as Spain’s leading producer of apricots and plums, a government official told the newspaper.
As well as this, Murcian stonefruit growers have also increased their sales of cherries 1,500 per cent over the past 12 months compared with 2007.
While established markets such as Germany and Italy continue to receive the bulk of stonefruit exports, Murcian growers also shipped 10,000 tonnes of products to Poland during 2008, making the central European country the region’s fifth largest export market.
In addition to Murcia, the Spanish region of Extremadura also increased its stonefruit exports by 71 per cent during 2008 to 22,515 tonnes.
