The agriculture department of the Murcia regional executive in Spain has forecast that the region’s grape harvest will climb 16 per cent on last year.
Output this season is expected to reach 146,000 tonnes thanks to favourable weather conditions during both the blossom period and fruit set, which have produced more bunches of a good size.
Seedless white types are showing the most growth in terms of volume (up 26 per cent) followed by Red Globe (up 13 per cent). Output of black grape Napoleon and traditional seeded variety Dominga is static, and declining acreage of Italia means that the forecast crop for this white variety is expected to be down year-on-year by 18 per cent.
Murcia accounts for 62 per cent of Spain’s grape exports by volume and earned €127 million in revenue for the crop in 2012.
