According to the ‘Short-term outlook for the EU agricultural markets in 2021’ report published this Tuesday by the European Commission, the production of peaches and nectarines this year will register a decrease of 20% over the previous season, standing at 2.8 million tons, due both to the spring frosts and to a decrease in hectares (this year there is 3% less surface area in the EU than in 2020).
The decrease in production this season is taking place in all countries, Greece and France have the strongest decreases with 45% less and 34% less, respectively. Production in Spain and Italy, which have a 40% and 35% market share according to 2020 data, will fall by 7% and 11%, respectively.
Adverse weather conditions will cause a 15% drop in yield per hectare in peaches destined for fresh consumption, which will amount to 14.5 tons per hectare, and a 30% drop in peaches for the industry, which will yield 17, 6 tons per hectare.
According to the Commission, “the low availability of the product in the Community Market and the expected high prices will cause a decrease in the consumption of fresh peaches and nectarines. Consumption will fall from 6.1 kilos in 2020 to 5.1 kilos this year.” Despite this assessment by the European Commission, prices are currently not as high as expected. According to different Fepex sources, despite the lower production, prices are very similar to those of last year.
The decrease in production will also cause exports to fall by 36% compared to the previous year, with the bulk of production destined for domestic consumption. The report also adds that the shortage of peaches for fresh consumption may also affect the availability of peaches for processing since part of the production originally destined for processing can be consumed fresh. This, along with the drop in production, will also lead to a shortage of peaches for processing in 2021.
Peach production for processing is forecast to fall the most in Greece (-50%), which in 2020 accounted for 65% of EU production. It will also decrease in Spain (-3%) and France (-23%).
Source: fepex.es