Spanish stonefruit exports to Russia dropped by 15 per cent while exports to Germany rocketed by 48 per cent in the 2013 season.
During the European stonefruit forecasts last week at Medfel, Perpignan, Manel Simon, from Catalan fruit trade body Afrucat, was asked if the Russian political situation will affect the 2014 Spanish stonefruit campaign.
He replied: “I don’t want to talk about Russia because it is not sufficiently objective. We have a normal trading relationship. There is nothing telling us that there is a risk or not, but we hope there will be no problems with Russia.”
The top destination for Spanish stonefruit in 2014 will be Germany, where exports will be up almost 50 per cent on 2013. Russia remains the second largest market for peaches and nectarines, and Simon said he hopes the quality of fruit will keep Russian consumers asking for Spanish imports.
Simon said the industry would like to export more to Russia in the future, but confirmed that it is also exploring other countries. “We have investigated Brazil and Colombia to establish commercial relationships with them, and also Asia. But we have not looked at the Far East.”
Meanwhile Javier Basols, president of Cooperativas Agro-Alimentarias, highlighted the growing importance of the internal stonefruit market. He said: “Consumption in 2013 was of some concern – there was a decrease of seven per cent in peaches and nectarines – especially keeping in mind production is increasing. The consumption issue is of great importance.”
