It is one of the Algarve’s sources of income at this time of year. Strawberry producers are in the middle of harvesting season, which will be exported to Christmas tables in Northern Europe.
Harvesting strawberries in Algarve started a few days agoto supply a Dutch supermarket chain. The winter strawberry varieties are, for this height, a kind of gift on the shoe of Algarve producers.
“It’s starting to get cold there, it’s starting to snow and so they have to buy strawberries in countries that are warmer, Portugal, Spain… Spain hasn’t started yet, but we have their varieties here and so we start producing earlier”, producer Luís Rocha tells SIC.
Hthere are already 15 tons in export perspective, withm the Christmas tables to be set up across Europe. The rest will be absorbed by the national market, normally more of an importer than a consumer of what it produces.
In the last spring, these stoves were news for having decided to offer or even throw away 20 tons of strawberriesthey were left without a buyer. The campaign now continues with a better perspective.
“We are doing a test for Braga. We sent fruit two days ago. A client who contacted us due to last year’s interview. He liked the fruit. The price is also good”, adds the producer.
Portugal produces around 20 thousand tons of strawberries per year, mimports five times more strawberries than it exports.
Last year, almost 13 thousand tons of strawberries came from countries like Spain.
