Report Predicts Mediocre Harvest in Andalusia

Summary

Andalusia is pre­dicted to have a ​“medium-low” olive har­vest in the upcom­ing sea­son due to high tem­per­a­tures and lack of rain­fall, with some provinces like Sevilla and Jaén expect­ing pro­duc­tion decreases of up to 50 per­cent. Despite the fore­cast, some in the sec­tor believe it is pre­ma­ture to worry, as many olive trees are in good con­di­tion and may still pro­duce a large har­vest next year.

A new report released by Andalusia’s Coordinator of Agriculture and Livestock Organizations (COAG) has said that Andalusia should expect a ​“medium-low” har­vest in the 2019/20 cam­paign.

Many pro­duc­ers in Spain were set to enter an off-year this cam­paign, but still expected an aver­age har­vest.

The provinces of Sevilla and Jaén are expected to be the hard­est hit and may see pro­duc­tion fig­ures reduced by as much as 50 per­cent. Malaga and Cádiz are also expected to see decreases by as much as 30 per­cent.

In Córdoba, there are dif­fer­ent yield esti­mates depend­ing on the region, rang­ing from unaf­fected groves in Subbetica to ones that are expected to yield no olives in Los Pedroches.

Overall, Andalusia pro­duces about 80 per­cent of Spain’s annual olive oil yield.

COAG Andalusia has attrib­uted the drop in pro­duc­tion to high tem­per­a­tures and a lack of rain­fall, which caused sig­nif­i­cant fruit losses and left other grow­ers with olives that will not be worth har­vest­ing for oil pro­duc­tion.

Andalusia and the rest of Spain have expe­ri­enced an unsea­son­ably hot end to the spring, but tem­per­a­tures are expected to cool over the next few weeks.

This reprieve may not last long though as the entire Iberian Peninsula is pre­dicted to expe­ri­ence ​“long-dura­tion heat waves” through­out the sum­mer with tem­per­a­tures in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, accord­ing to a report from Accuweather.

Whether or not pro­duc­ers’ olive groves are irri­gated has gen­er­ally dic­tated what kind of pro­duc­tion they should expect to see.

“The dry ones [with­out irri­ga­tion] show any­thing from no har­vest to half of an aver­age har­vest,” the report said. ​“The irri­gated areas are doing slightly bet­ter, although after a good set, some have also aborted fruits. Depending on the amount of water avail­able and when irri­ga­tion started, the yield may vary, but the fore­cast should be between 50 per­cent and nor­mal.”

However, some in the sec­tor believe that the COAG Andalusia report is a bit pre­ma­ture and oil pro­duc­ers should not worry yet.

“Making a fore­cast for the year 2020 is dif­fi­cult given that a lot of time is left before the har­vest sea­son,” Rafael Pico Lapuente, the direc­tor of the Spanish Association of Olive Oil Exporting, Industry and Commerce (Asoliva), told Olive Oil Times. ​“However, [many] olive trees are in a per­fect state at present, so we should not rule out a large pro­duc­tion for next year.”

In the 2018/19 cam­paign, Spain pro­duced a record 1.77 mil­lion tons of olive oil, accord­ing to the country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing and Food. The International Olive Council esti­mated Spain’s pro­duc­tion to be a bit lower – 1.60 mil­lion ton – but has yet to revise these fig­ures.

Pico Lapuente’s opin­ion was echoed by sev­eral farm­ers and other fig­ures in the sec­tor, many of whom expect this off-sea­son to pro­duce an aver­age yield, though all said it was too early to pre­dict and that farm­ers would need to wait until the end of the sum­mer to see what hap­pens.

“Olive trees thrive under stress,” Callum Henderson, an olive farmer and oil pro­ducer in the province of Granada, told Olive Oil Times. ​“It’s still early. My guess is the yield will be down, but the qual­ity will be good.”

• COAG Andalusia


• AccuWeather