Huelva, (EFE). – The strawberry sector has completed the 2022-2023 campaign with a total production of 243,310 tons of strawberries, which represents a decrease of 10% compared to the previous campaign, according to the data provided by the companies of the Association of Producers and Exporters of Strawberries. Huelva Strawberry, Freshuelva.
These figures reflect a campaign “plagued with ups and downs”, with a very significant incidence of the weather. That, in many moments, it is “very harmful”, as it happened with the excessive heat during the plantation. That forced to replant up to almost 30% in some cases of the plants. Or the extreme cold at the beginning of the year, which greatly reduced production.
To this was added the excessive heat registered in the month of April. That also had an impact on production by reducing the quality of the fruit, Freshuelva reported in a statement.
Slight price increase
This adverse situation translates into a 10% drop in production. And a slight increase in prices compared to last season. That, together with the increase in costs, shows a significant decrease in the profitability of the crop, according to the strawberry growers.
For its part, the raspberry campaign ended with a production of 47,750 tons. This represents a decrease of 4.5% compared to the previous campaign.
The first part of the raspberry campaign was marked by low prices in the markets. And, above all, due to a very large competition from third countries such as Morocco that Freshuelva has been denouncing year after year before the EU. Considering that Europe should establish an entry fee for third countries in these cases, as well as demand compliance with mirror clauses.
Delay of low temperatures
The blueberry campaign has also resulted in a 10% drop in production and a total of 53,190 tons produced and, according to Freshuelva, the final extension of the blueberry campaign has made it possible to recover the drop in production carried over from the first months , so that the differential with the previous campaign has been somewhat less than expected.
This lower production has been due, first of all, to the delay in the arrival of low temperatures that did not allow for the accumulation of sufficient cold hours -in the months of November, December and January the minimum temperatures were above the average for those dates- , and the cold of the last weeks of February and early March reduced the calibres.
The recovery in production during April and May, however, ran into strong competition in the markets, especially from third countries such as Morocco, which caused an oversupply, a collapse in prices and a lower supply in June with the consequent price increase.
According to this association, blackberry production remains at 2,000 tons, similar to the previous campaign. EFE