So far, and other than in some very specific areas, the snow and cold temperatures of the past few days have not caused significant damage to crops in the Region of Murcia, southern Alicante or eastern Almeria, according to Proexport, which has claimed it is still able to supply vegetables to both domestic and international clients.
"We started with a noticeable decrease in the volumes we normally harvest due to the rains that took place some weeks ago," explains Fernando P. Gómez, director of Proexport. "Tackling the current climate situation is a great challenge for the Spanish horticultural sector as a whole, which has also had to face a strong and extraordinary increase in international demand due to the impact of the extreme cold wave suffered in Europe two weeks ago, which devastated large-scale vegetable production areas in Italy, Greece and Turkey. We therefore ask for understanding and flexibility from all our customers."
Vegetables and citrus, the most affected in the Region of Valencia
The combination of cold, rain, snow, wind and hail in recent days has caused damage of relative importance in Valencia, with vegetables and citrus as the most affected crops. According to LA UNIÓ de Llauradors, the estimate is still temporary, as the weather conditions remain adverse.
Vegetables are the crops that have been most hit by the cold, including artichokes, which have suffered visual deterioration and market shortages, as the harvest stopped for a few days. The area with the biggest losses is the southern half of Alicante. There is no evidence that frost has taken a toll on citrus crops.
The snow has been very well received by growers, especially of rainfed crops, since it brings an important contribution of water to some areas of the interior. Only in the case of olives and citrus fruits have there been some isolated damage.
Thursday's hailstorm was fortunately not very severe. It affected about 4,000 hectares, mainly of citrus fruits, in the counties of La Ribera, La Safor and La Marina. It is still early to evaluate the damage, but the fact that the harvest was already at an advanced stage will minimise them. Besides another storm recorded on Friday, which may have affected 1,000 hectares of vegetable crops in the county of L'Horta, the wind is also expected to have affected infrastructure and caused citrus crops to fall to the ground.