At the end of October, heavy rains were recorded in areas of the Region of Murcia such as Águilas, where the excess moisture and higher temperatures than usual in the weeks that followed have caused some quality problems in open ground vegetables.
"The problem is affecting brassicas and lettuce. As far as cauliflower is concerned, the situation this year has been the complete opposite of last year's. The production in Murcia started about two weeks early and exports were delayed because the weather in Europe has allowed local productions to be extended, which already made the marketing more difficult," says Cecilia Fladung, from Greenfood Iberica.
"Now, Botrytis outbreaks due to excess humidity are causing quality problems in cauliflower and also in broccoli. In fact, some suppliers have told us that between 40 and 60% of their production has been affected," she says.
"Until now, this lower supply of export quality produce had not had a noticeable impact because there were still many destinations with local productions, such as the United Kingdom or Denmark, but now prices have already started to show an upward trend. The quality problems are expected to end when the cold weather sets in; however, for the time being, everything points to this situation continuing for the next two to three weeks," says Cecilia Fladung.
"Regarding Iceberg lettuce, in general, both quality and prices have been good throughout the year. The rains have also caused some quality problems in Iceberg lettuce, especially in the Águilas area, where yields are lower. The mild temperatures in November are also having an impact because, in general, the varieties that had been planted are better adapted to colder weather."
"After the rains, and with this heat, the production is accelerating, causing the supply to grow and market prices to drop; in fact, the harvests are about a week ahead of schedule," says Cecilia. "As in the case of brassicas, the situation will continue like this for around three weeks, and the fear is that, when the cold weather arrives and production is regulated, there will be a gap in the supply due to all the lettuce that is being harvested ahead of schedule."
"Lettuce specialties, which we at Greenfood Iberica grow for the processing industry, have also been affected by the high humidity and temperatures," says Cecilia. "Specialties such as the Romana, Batavia or Frisée are a little more sensitive and will be more easily affected by diseases."
"Suppliers are protecting themselves against this setback by harvesting a little before the problems (mainly mildew) appear, and they are devoting greater efforts to sorting. They are still managing to fulfill their programs, but they are also seeing their yields fall," says Cecilia.
"We still have several weeks left with a high supply of Iceberg lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower with quality problems, and we'll have to see how the market responds when the cold weather arrives, which is also when, traditionally, the prices of open field vegetables go up," she says.
For more information:
Greenfood Iberica
Avda. Catalunya, 33-35
17253 Mont-ras Girona, Spain
Tel.: +34 972 636 559
https://greenfoodiberica.es