This is according to the Portuguese National Statistics Institute’s (INE) farming forecast, released this week.
The INE said the steep fall in cherry output was due to “a winter that was not as cold as usual and then the persistent rain that fell in the springtime, with May being the wettest in the last 22 years.”
Overall, it is estimated that cherry production was around 1.4 tons per hectare, one of the lowest amounts in the last three decades.
Peach production has also been badly affected by the weather, and a 20 percent drop in output is expected.