The Ministry of Agriculture foresees a stone fruit campaign without major changes in Catalonia, with contained increases in peaches and apricots and stability in nectarines and Paraguayan peaches. The progress comes as the harvesting of apricots and cherries has already begun and while waiting for Afrucat to detail its official figures on May 21 in Lleida.
The contrast of the campaign appears in the apricot. While in the regions of Ponent the forecast points to 15,421 tons and an increase of 4%, in Catalonia as a whole the growth will barely be 0.4% due to the 33% drop in Tarragona, where production will be limited to 1,167 tons.
The nectarine will continue to lead a campaign of 13,310 productive hectares
The nectarine will once again be the most widespread crop among the four major stone fruit varieties, with 6,350 productive hectares. Behind it are the Paraguayan peach, with 3,680 hectares, the peach, with 2,850, and the flat peach, with 250.
The sector also adds 2,700 hectares of young seedlings.
In production, the forecast points to 161,300 tons of nectarine, with no significant variations compared to the previous campaign. Paraguayan will remain at 98,700 tons and platerina will be around 5,800, while peach will rise 2.7% to about 91,000 tons from last year's 88,589.
The planted area confirms the weight of the nectarine in the Catalan supply, but the projected volume outlines a campaign of continuity rather than expansion. The clearest evolution among the main varieties is in peaches, which are the only fruit with a specific increase in the initial estimates from Agriculture.
Tarragona cuts back on apricots while Ponent starts with prices of 2.50 euros
The apricot campaign is already underway in the producing regions and Afrucat calculates 15,421 tons in Ponent, 4% more. Agriculture places 1,743 hectares dedicated to this crop in that area, of which 1,400 are now in production.
In Tarragona, production will fall by 33%.
That drop weighs down the Catalan apricot yield, which will barely grow by 0.4% despite the expected progress in Ponent. The start of the campaign also coincides with the first market references in Mercabarna, where the dominant price for apricots is 2.50 euros per kilo.
The cherry has also already begun its harvest and is quoted with a dominant price of 6 euros per kilo in Mercabarna. The maximums reach 4 euros per kilo for apricots and 15 euros for cherries.
Afrucat will present its official forecasts on May 21 at the 25th edition of the International Peach and Nectarine Forum, Interprunus, which will be held at the Rectorate of the Universitat de Lleida.