The stone fruit season in a few countries in the Northern Hemisphere looks promising, while it is also up to 10 days earlier. This is due to warmer weather during spring, which favours faster growing of the nectarines, peaches and flat peaches or paraguayos. Spain, as Europe’s major stone fruit growing country and exporter, is 10 days earlier with very good prospects for the 2024 season, that will be better than last year. Despite a 4% reduction in the planted area of peaches in Italy, an up to 35% peaches volume increase is expected compared to 2023 in the North of the country.
In Germany, there is good supply of mainly Spanish nectarines, but it is lacking demand forcing retailers to lower prices. Italy, Turkey and Greece provide complementary supply on German markets. In France, harvesting of peaches and nectarines has just started. No significant climatic accidents were reported, so French production potential should be around 230,000 tonnes, estimated to be 5% above 2023 levels. Serbia is seeing increasing plantings of peaches and nectarines, but it is mostly for the local market consumption. Belgium has a lot of demand for Spanish stone fruit, with good prices reported for paraguayos, nectarines and peaches in particular.
