06.07.2011: A 2% rise in production and 4.7% on turnover
Spain's strawberry campaign coming to a close

According to a balance made by the president of Freshuelva, Alberto Garrocho.

Huelva's Strawberry Producers and Exporters Association, Freshuelva, ended 2010-2011's campaign with a total production of 245,00 tons and a turnover of 342,5 million Euro, meaning respectively, 2% and 4.7% more than in the previous campaign.

According to a balance made by the president of Freshuelva, Alberto Garrocho, despite the rise, the total production is smaller that the initial expectations of the sector, that expected to reach 250,000 tons, due to an increase of 0.23% of the cultivated area, reaching now 6,400 hectares in the province.

From the total harvested, around 80% was already commercialized for fresh consumption (190,200 tons) and the remaining 20% has gone to the industry (55,000 tons), which represents, in this last case, an increase in volume.

Garrocho explained that the present campaign was divided in two - the first part of the year was more favourable to the sector, until rain came at the end of April; and the other is in May, when markets behaved the worst, and June, darkened by the crisis generated by the presence of the E.coli bacteria and the closing down of borders to Spanish products, that ended the Strawberry campaign.

As for the external market, there was a rise of 14% in exports to France in March and April, due to the good weather and quality.

On the other hand, the national consumer claimed 15% of the total production, meaning that the remaining 85% was for export, mainly to EU countries.

Source: Besana

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Source: Huelvainformacion

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01.07.2011: Despite quality and prices, a drop regarding last year
Spain: Huelva strawberry production drops by 12% due to bad weather

The production from the last strawberry season, which is about to end, dropped by 12% regarding the campaign of 2009-10, going from 285,000 tons and 252,237 tons, despite good quality and good prices, as Europapress indicated.

The Vice-counsellor for Agriculture and Fishing, Juan Ignacio Serrano, pointed out yesterday, after a meeting with representatives of the fruits and vegetables sector in Huelva, that despite a drop in production, the campaign was marked by the "high quality" of fruit. According to Serrano, "there were no problems with diseases or size" and markets had "a good acceptance for the new varieties".

He highlighted that the ending of the season showed that red fruit was only negatively affected by the health alarm issued by the German government, in connection with the E.coli bacteria. Despite on going sales, the committee expected to have numbers similar to last season, that ended with 209.7 million Euro, due to a good price trends.

Fresh strawberry production was 250,000 tons while raspberry was around the 8,459 tons and for blueberry reached 5,964 tons. On the present campaign, 6,521 hectares were planted. This area is similar also to the one of 2009-2010.

More exports

Huelva exports 85% of its strawberry production, mainly to the EU. The remaining is for internal consumption.

This year, the internal market assumed a higher consumption share, since France imported more strawberry from Morocco, while Germany raised its own production.

The manager for the Huelva's Strawberry Producers and Exporters Association Rafael Domínguez Guillén, explained yesterday that the closing down of borders by Russia, due to the cucumber crisis, also forced the sector to destroy goods in trucks destined there.

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20.06.2011 Andalucía - Spain: Takes the lead in the citrus business

The business group García Carrión - manufacturer of the well-known brand Don Simón- plans to invest 80 million euros to double the production capacity of its juice plant located in Villanueva de los Castillejos (Huelva), as indicated by the president of the family company of Murcia, José García Carrión, during the presentation of the company's strategic plan.

The gamble, of the leader company of the Spanish juice sector, which has a market share of 40%, is done after participating in the social capital of the firm Zumos Valencianos del Mediterraneo (Zuvamesa), industry located in Parc Sagunt driven by the Government to alleviate the oversupply of fresh orange and where twenty large citrus growers of the Comunitat Valenciana participate.

García Carrión has 7% of Zuvamesa, while entrusted the main part of its citrus processing business in Andalusia, Huelva, whose plant may reach an output between 800,000 and 900,000 kilos of oranges a year, from which it will get 500 million litres of juice. Parallel to this ambitious project, it highlights the company's plan to reach 10,000 citrus planted hectares in Spain, of which 3,000 are located in the vicinity of the factory of Villanueva de los Castillejos, where it already has 1,500 hectares of that crop.

Doubles the capacity of the Sagunt plant

The new García Carrión factory will double the production capacity of Zuvamesa, so far with the largest installed volume in Europe. A year behind schedule, in 2010 the activity of the firm Parc Sagunt started, but only with 25% of its capacity, i.e., 400,000 tons per campaign. The plant involved an investment of 126 million. García Carrión's bid for Andalusía will allow it to compete in a better position in the E.U. with big players of Brazil and Florida. j. l. z. valencia