The European Commission's Fruit and Vegetable Market Observatory Expert Group's stone fruit subgroup, composed of sectoral representatives and experts from the Member States, including FEPEX, met on Monday to analyze the production prospects for the next season. The main producing countries expect a slight increase in the harvest of peaches, nectarines, and apricots. This estimate is in line with the projections of the Europêch forum, which forecast 3.4 million tons for 2024, i.e. 4% more than 2023 and 7% more than the average of 2018/2022.
The subgroup also discussed the issues caused by the gradual reduction of available phytosanitary products, a problem faced by all EU countries, highlighting the importance of not eliminating more active substances without offering effective alternatives. Miguel Ángel Gómez, manager of AFRUEX and representative of FEPEX, highlighted this issue before the representatives of the Commission. Another issue addressed was the challenge posed by the decrease in the use of plastics in production and marketing, which increases costs as they are replaced by more expensive and sometimes scarce materials, such as cellulose.
The mission of the European Commission's Fruit and Vegetable Market Observatory Expert Group is to provide the EU fruit and vegetables sector with more transparency by disseminating market data and short-term analysis. FEPEX is represented by Agustín Sánchez, manager of the Association of Agricultural Entrepreneurs of the Right Bank of the Ebro, and Miguel Ángel Gómez in this subgroup.
Source: fepex.es