Huelva’s strawberry production has gone from optimism at the start of the season to overproduction at year end and the first days of January; but the campaign still has a long way to go.
As has generally occurred in all the autumn-winter productions, the strawberry production in Huelva was early due to the high temperatures recorded.
Alberto Garrocho, chairman of Freshuelva, emphasised that “November was more like March and December was similar to February, therefore the fruit harvest had to start a month earlier than usual”.
The evolution of these three months of production has meant different scenarios, which have gone from a generalised optimism due to the fact that the arrival of fruit on the European and Spanish markets was going to mean good prices, to the general disillusionment of week 3 (moment of closure of this edition).
The excess of extra early varieties and the competition in the production were determining factors for this decrease.
The prices for both raspberries and strawberries dropped drastically to some minimums that could not be compared to other starts of season.
Between the last week in December and the first week in January prices plummeted, dropping below production costs. Although they recovered again between the second and third week, this was not enough, compared to other campaigns.
This excess of extra early varieties (Splendor, Primoris, San Andreas or potted Fortuna) meant that production shot up and the markets became saturated. To this was added the important volume of fruit coming from Morocco at the same time, including a large amount of potted Fortuna.
In spite of these unfavourable circumstances, the campaign still has a long way to go and the final result will take months to be valued.
