Aragon -Spain's largest cherry-producing region, where the province of Zaragoza alone has more than 9,500 hectares of cultivation- is already supplying significant quantities of cherries to the market.
"We at Persicum Fresh have our own farms in Alfamén and in Calatayud, two areas with different altitudes that allow us to harvest the same variety up to 15 days apart and to extend the season with very interesting varieties in the market."
"As part of our strong commitment to mid-season and late varieties, the Lapins is our star variety. We can harvest it for up to a month in our different growing areas."
"The later varieties have a higher quality than the early and extra-early varieties so we can offer consumers a cherry with a good Brix value, a good shelf life, and a lot of firmness. Normally, the entire early segment tends to produce fruit that is generally softer and prone to cracking and, as we have seen again this year, more likely to suffer problems due to the cold or spring rains."
"This year we'll harvest a greater volume than other years," Alberto said. "The bigger the harvest, the size inevitably decreases a bit, but at least we'll harvest exceptional quality fruit."
Last year, fruit from Aragon played an important role after a season severely affected by the weather in Extremadura. It was precisely these mid-season and late cherries that ensured that the export volume in August was threefold higher than in the same month of 2022 and 38% higher than the average of the last 5 years, with prices increasing on average over the entire season by 49.5% at source compared to the previous 5 seasons, and by 35.5% when they left the packing facilities.
The increase in exports to almost all the main European destinations was also interesting, especially exports to Germany (+67%), France (+69%), and Italy (+154%), according to MAPA data.
"Cherry is a very attractive product and there is always a lot of interest in the market. Consumption is not as good as we hoped initially, but our customers' demand is very good. Everyone was waiting to see when we started because the cold weather in May delayed the start of the harvest in our area a bit."
For more information:
Persicum Vega
Pol. Industrial La Charluca
Complejo Aragón Fase II, Nave 3
50340 Calatayud (Zaragoza)
Tel.: + 34 617323631
http://persicumfresh.es