Crops in Spain are being severely affected by the worst winter to strike the south and east of the country in 20 years.
Low temperatures fell even further from January 26-31 to below freezing in Valencia, Murcia, Almeria and Huelva and production in many areas has been under snow. The conditions have also made transport difficult and some roads impassable further adding to supply disruption.
All major lines from Spain have been hit: tomatoes, citrus, capsicum, aubergine, courgettes, soft-fruit and lettuce.
"We are still gathering reports from producers and we cannot even estimate the exact volumes that have been lost, " said Marian Martínez of Almeria exporters' association Coexphal.
In Valencia, producers' association Ava-Asaja has quantified damage to citrus to be roughly half of the fruit remaining to be harvested, more than 1 million tonnes. The main lines are Lane Late, Navel Late, Valencia, Ortanique and Fortune and to a lesser extent Salustiana, Hernandina, Navel and Clemenvilla. The acreage affected by the frosts is some 50,000ha of citrus, and field and protected vegetable and salad crops, mainly for the domestic market have also suffered severe damage.
In Murcia temperatures fell to -11°C overnight in some areas and damage to tomatoes, lettuce, citrus, artichoke, broccoli, potatoes, beans and capsicum has been extensive, according to the Murcia federation of co-operatives Fecoam.
Almost 50,000ha have been damaged and 1mt of produce lost in the region known as the Market Garden of Europe.
The organisations in these areas also warn of damage to stone-fruit trees. "Two weeks ago temperatures were much warmer at 24°C which fooled the trees and some had started to flower early, " said an Ava-Asaja spokeswoman. "Those blooms have been burnt by the frost so there will probably be a drop in stone-fruit production as a result."
The story is similar in Murcia were there are fears for the early apricot and extra-early peach and nectarine crops. "There may also be damage to the trees themselves which could have an impact on production even into next season," warned Antonio Hernández of Fecoam.
Strawberries and raspberries grown in the Huelva region have also been very hard hit.
"There has been very serious damage to raspberries and some damage to strawberries," said John Grieve of soft-fruit specialist importer Lisons. "Raspberries have high water content and some have effectively frozen on the plants. We expect supplies to be affected for about another month. There has been damage to strawberries and it is production in low tunnels that is particularly hard hit. This will certainly slow things down although the plants should recover."
Ian Waller of the Summerfruit Company reports that although temperatures have been climbing this week, the shortage of strawberries will still be felt for at least another week. "Our concern too is what damage the frosts have done to the flowers which were due to fruit in mid-March and on any small fruit coming through," he said. "We are probably going to see a lot of misshapen fruit in March which could have an impact on availability." Waller estimates that 20-50 per cent of the fruit that was ready to harvest when the frosts struck could be lost. "Raspberries are considerably worse affected and some people have lost all their crop through to March," he added.
