14% increase in Spanish stone fruit crop
A bumper harvest is expected for Spain’s stone fruit, which is set to total 1.43 million tons in 2019 – a rise of 14% from last season in peaches. This represents a return to 2017 levels. However, 2017 also saw very low production prices, which led to the implementation of a “Plan for the improvement of the stone fruit sector” by the country’s Ministry of Agriculture. Latest estimates indicate a rise of 23.3% for peaches (1 million tons), a 2.8% rise for plums (152,000 tons) and a 2% rise for apricots (170,000 tons). Meanwhile, a 3% drop is expected for cherries (106,000 tons).
The country’s main peach-producing region is Catalonia (273,791 tons, + 10.6%), followed by the fast-expanding Aragon (266,301 tons, + 89.2%); Murcia (246,133 tons, + 8.7%) and Extremadura (68,000 tons, + 41.7%). Other regions have seen drops, including Andalusia (48,117 tons, -5.6%) and Castilla-La Mancha (38,090 tons, -10.1%).
Apricot production is mainly concentrated in Murcia (92,259 tons, -11.6%), Valencia (27,158 tons, +18.7%), and Aragon (20,000 tons, -3.5%). While Extremadura is the centre for plums (71,000 tons, +0.7%), followed by Andalusia (23,721 tons, +21.8%), Valencia (14,736 tons, +18.1%), Murcia (14,036 tons , +18.1%) and Aragon (11,821 tons, -11.3%). In cherries, Aragona leads the way (37,868 tons, +7.9%), which has overtaken Extremadura (30,200 tons, -16.6%).
The first varieties of stone fruit show “a good quality”, according to the Spanish fruit association’s report.
