Hail, rain and high winds in mid-July have taken their toll on a wide variety of crops in eastern, southern and north-eastern Spain.
In the province of Seville in the southern region of Andalusia, a hail storm on July 14 caused €11 million (£8.646m) of damage when it dumped 80 litres of water per square metre in just half an hour with accompanying wind and hail. Table grapes as well as late varieties of plum were particularly badly affected with damage caused not just to fruit for this season but also to the vines and trees themselves. According to producers’association Coag Sevilla, a total of 2,500ha across all crops were affected.
Hail fell in the Valencia region on both July 12 and July 13 causing damage to citrus and kaki production.
In the Lerida, area storms on the night of July 11 and in the afternoon of 12 July uprooted trees as well as damaging fruit. The crop hardest hit was Conference pears although there was also damage to pear, nectarine and peach orchards.
Meanwhile, earlier estimates regarding Spanish stonefruit output are being revised downward. The sectorial committee at Spanish producer-exporters’ federation Fepex, met recently and pulled together data from all seven producing regions. “In comparison with previous years, there is less production,” said director-general at Fepex José María Pozancos. “Italian production has declined and this has allowed an increase in the price of fruit by 20-30 per cent, but we will have to wait and see if this is having a positive impact as sometimes it is better to sell more volume at a lower price.”
He pointed out that inclement weather earlier in the season had affected production of apricots, cherries and nectarines as high winds and rainfall swept southern production areas. Production costs have also increased, he said, but overall the season “is not going badly,” he added.
Top-fruit sector representatives have also met and sectorial committee chairman Josep Panadés indicated that apple production in La Rioja is waning as producers switch to cultivating Conference pear, while production in Lerida is moving from top fruit to stonefruit.
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