Catalonia expects fall in pear and apple harvest

Catalonia’s apple and pear forecasts for 2018 are lower than last year’s. The region’s apple forecast for 2018 is 273,930 tons, 1% less than in 2017. The spring rains have affected flowering and April and May hailstorms damaged more than 3,000 hectares. Harvest is expected to be delayed by 5-10 days compared to last year; the blooms, the fruit set and the sizes are normal, although in the Golden, Rojas and Gala varieties, the sizes are normal-large, while russeting is not detected in Golden.

The productive area decreased slightly, -0.8% in Lleida and -0.3% in Girona, and the production area of ​​Girona accounted for 28% of region’s total, while Lleida contributed 72%.

Regarding Catalonia’s 2018 pear harvest, it is estimated that volumes will be 8% lower than in 2017, at around 139,420 tons, with drops in all varieties. As with apples, spring hailstorms and rains impacted flowering, fruit set, and production. The productive surface has decreased from 2017. Sizes are expected to be normal, although in some varieties they are large.