According to a report from Afrucat, Spanish apples are recovering ground on the country's supermarket shelves. The data collected by the association shows that in 2015, 50% of the apples were of national origin. In recent years, this percentage has increased to 55% in 2018, and to 59% in 2023.
According to Manel Simon "variety renewal, as well as the planting of new hectares, have allowed the Spanish production to gain a greater presence on our shelves."
In fact, more and more brands are changing their strategies and betting on domestic fruit.
The presence of Spanish pears has declined; however, this fruit had a very prominent position on the shelves. In 2015, 85% of the pears were of domestic origin. This share dropped to 83% in 2018 and to 72% in 2023.
The price of apples and pears
The data collected also show how prices have evolved in recent years. Comparing the average price of domestic apples versus the average price of imported apples, in 2015, there was a gap of 0.59 Euro/kilo in favor of imported apples. This gap has been increasing over the years and in 2023 it reached 1.07 Euro/kilo.
Simon says that "we must continue to work on raising awareness among Spanish consumers of the importance of their choices in the supermarket, not only for our economy, but also for sustainability and for the future of the agricultural sector. Promoting our own fruit at home is essential."
There is also a price gap in the case of pears, but it seems to have grown smaller over the years. While in 2015 the kilo of imported pears cost 0.68 Euro more than Spanish pears, in 2023 this gap was down to 0.55 Euro/kilo.