The apple and pear contact group, made up of producers, marketers, sector representatives, and government officials from France, Italy, and Spain, will meet on April 2 and 3 in Avignon (France).
The contact group will discuss the season's progress, analyze the market in France, Italy, and Spain, and review the crops' phytosanitary situation. The elimination of phytosanitary products and active ingredients necessary for crop management in the EU represents one of the sector's main challenges. Community producers perceive these reductions and elimination of phytosanitary products as a competitive disadvantage compared to third-country crops, which are not bound by EU regulations.
The president of the Pear and Apple Committee and vice-president of Fepex, Joan Serentill, who is also a member of the Afrucat association, together with technical managers from the Federation, will represent Fepex in this contact group, which first met on March 29th, 2011.
Last season, from September 2023 to August 2024, Spain produced 527,680 tons of apples, 404,450 tons of which corresponded to table apples and 123,230 tons to cider apples. Pear production amounted to 288,030 tons, according to MAPA's 2023/2024 Pome Fruit Season Report of November 12, 2024.
Last season, Spain devoted 28,410 hectares to apple cultivation and 18,460 hectares to pears.
In the 2023-2024 season, Italy produced 2.3 million tons of apples and 256,000 tons of pears, and France produced 1.8 million tons of apples and 128,000 tons of pears.
For more information:
www.fepex.es