For the first four months of the year, Spanish import volumes of fruit and vegetables are down by more than 9.5 per cent compared with the same period in 2010, according to France-based Végétable.
Imports of fruit have fallen by 9.8 per cent to 340,964 tonnes, while vegetable imports have decreased by 9.4 per cent to some 476,422 tonnes.
According to Fepex, the Spanish export association, the decline can be explained by a drop in consumption in Spanish households since the end of 2010 as a result of the economic crisis.
However, although imports have fallen volume-wise, they have in fact increased by 10.2 per cent in value terms, representing a total of €547m.
The three products that have benefited most from this increase are potatoes, whose value has risen by 77 per cent, kiwifruit (up 25 per cent) and bananas (up 41 per cent).
