Spanish tomato exports, one of the country’s most important fresh produce commodities, dropped by 16 per cent in volume terms to 632,445 tonnes, between January and November last year compared with the same period of 2009.
The fall in tomato sales contributed greatly to an overall decrease in vegetable exports, which were down by 6 per cent year-on-year to 3.2m tonnes and 13 per cent in value to €3.2m, according to data from Spanish customs processed by Fepex.
By contrast, fruit exports during the 11 months increased by 1.3 per cent to 4.9m tonnes - in value terms by €4.4m – with watermelons particularly impressive with a 30 per cent rise in export sales to 486,327 tonnes.
Despite this, Fepex said that overall Spanish fruit and vegetable exported volumes for the period fell by 2 per cent to 8.2m tonnes, although the value of these exports rose by 11.5 per cent to €7.6m.
