Med grape supply takes a beating

Soaring temperatures in Greece are playing havoc with the early grape crop.

 

“Temperatures have reached 47°C,” said Mimi Spiliopoulou, commercial and technical director of M&CP Premium Fresh Produce Ltd. “About 25 per cent of the Thompson Seedless production has been lost so far and the crops are looking terrible, with a lot of brown berries because of the heat. I estimate that there will be a loss of about 35 per cent in total.”

 

Spiliopoulou said conditions are worse on higher ground in the mountains, and that damage is less lower down. “The heat is also affecting the size of the berries and sizes are small as they are very stressed,” she said.

 

Corinth and Crete are harder hit than production in Kavala further north. “The harvest in Kavala is not due to start until mid-September, but in Corinth it is around August 11 and in Crete July 26,” said Spiliopoulou.

 

There is little that growers can do to try and protect their fruit from the searing heat. “The only thing we can do is put water on the plants during the night,” Spiliopoulou said. “That is to help the plants, as there is not really anything we can do for the fruit.”

 

There is likely to be a considerable impact on exports. “We would normally have some 250,000 tonnes from both Corinth and Crete, but the majority of the fruit will not have good quality or sizing,” said Spiliopoulou. “And everybody knows that in these cases growers will be looking to raise prices.”

 

Grape production in the Spanish region of Murcia has also been hit by the weather, with heavy rain and lower-than-average temperatures in the spring delaying the season by 10 days and triggering a drop in volumes.

 

Supply is expected to be some 30 to 40 per cent down on the 2006 season, with the possibility of a 50 per cent drop being the worst-case scenario in areas that were worst affected.

 

“Production was sensitive to the rains and cooler spring conditions,” Enrique Bastarreche, co-ordinator for grower trade association Asociación Apirenas, told FPJ. “The weather was not ideal in Holy Week, but some areas were hit worse than others.”

 

http://www.freshinfo.com/index.php?s=n&ss=nd&sid=42435

 

---

I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users.
It has removed 676 spam emails to date.
Paying users do not have this message in their emails.
Try SPAMfighter for free now!