Stonefruit growers in the Spanish region of Murcia were bracing themselves for cold weather on Wednesday following a warm spell that has brought blossom on early and left trees exposed to a late frost.

“Last week temperatures were up to 25°C, but in the early part of this week they fell to 15°C in the daytime,” said a spokesman for producers’ association Coag-Murcia. The danger for early cherry, plum, apricot, peach and nectarine production in the region is that a sustained drop in temperatures could damage delicate blossom.

The cold weather was forecast to last three days.

Andrés López of Murcia co-ops federation, Fecoam, told freshinfo that field crops might also be in the firing line. “There has been some localised wind damage to iceberg in the region this week,” said López, “and the low temperatures mean that production rhythm has been upset on broccoli, slowing down product growth.” The result is a 300p rise in broccoli prices this week on wholesale markets in the UK.