Food & Climate
The flash floods threaten the agricultural production especially Spain’s citrus. Floods submerged thousands of hectares of farmland, in a region that produces a lot of Spain’s fresh produce, including two-thirds of the country’s citrus.
The images of Valencia’s flooding last week are nothing short of apocalyptic. We’ve seen entire towns flooded, stacks of cars piled up among debris, and people dragging their possessions through waist-high levels of water. Most tragically, over 140 people were reported dead, according a report seen by “Food & Climate” platform.
A year’s worth of heavy rains hit the region in the span of a few hours on Tuesday. The deluge shut down roads, destroying houses and crucial infrastructure in the process.
Spain’s citrus and vegetables
The Valencian Agricultural Producers’ Association in Spain, said it expected “significant damage” to crops across the region, as well as in neighbouring Almeria and Andalusia. It is thought many growers have lost huge chunks of their harvests, with citrus, persimmon and vegetables among the most affected crops.
However, it is still too early to assess the full extent of the damage. This is because the storms also caused extensive damage to rural roads and agricultural infrastructure such as greenhouses, packing plants and other machinery.
Many farmers haven’t even been able to reach their land yet. But several agricultural figures have warned there will likely be some shortages of goods coming out of the region in the next few weeks.
Valencia is not a complete stranger to these storms – the extreme weather event behind the latest floods, also known as a Dana, is common in the eastern region of Spain during the autumn season.
However, this is the hardest the region has been hit by heavy rains and hailstorms in recent years. Insurance analysts in Spain are already predicting this to be the most expensive natural disaster to ever hit the country. And meteorologists are pointing to climate change as a key reason for the gravity of the event.
“Of course there have been floods before and also other extreme weather events – but what we see in more recent years, ever stronger, is that many of these extreme weather events are more intense than they would have been without climate change,” climatologist Friederike Otto told Radio 4’s Today programme, according to the “Grocer“
Spain’s citrus exports
In the 2023-2024 season, Spain’s citrus exports exceeded imports by 2.508 billion euros, despite a yield drop due to adverse weather conditions.
So, Spain continues to be the world’s leading trader of fresh citrus with a 25% share of the world export, according to “Fresh plaza”.
Spain’s citrus exports totaled 2.34 million tons, which 3.1% less than in the previous seasons and 17.8% less than the average of last 5 years.
However, Spain’s citrus export value increased. It stood at 2.662 billion euros and was higher than in the previous season and the average of the last 5 years.
While Spain’s citrus is leading world export, the country imports big quantities. The import volume increased by o.4% over the previous campaign and 17% compared to average, totaling 168.130 tons. Imports amounted to 153 million euros, 15% more than in the previous campaign and 31% more than the average.
Although farmers place part of the blame on products coming in from outside the country, three out of every four citrus fruits consumed in the European Union are Spanish, according to “English elpais”.