The drought, which this summer has left temperatures of 40 degrees in unlikely places such as the Montseny-Guilleries area, at 900 meters above sea level, the main Christmas tree growing area in southern Europe, has killed all the specimens planted this year and more than half of those grown two years ago.
An episode that will have consequences in the future, according to the president of the Associació de Cultivadors d’Arbres Associats de Catalunya (Canac), Albert Gallifa, who brings together 35 growers from the triangle formed by Viladrau, Espinelves and Sant Hilari Sacalm.
Fir is a slow growing tree. What is planted today will not be marketed until five years from now. “We add two with drought, so that in two or three exercises the 1.25 meter tree will no longer be there, there will be a gap in the wheel of the stock”, explains Gallifa, from Can Jover Crops of Sant Hilary.
The extreme drought, which has also affected another of the Christmas products par excellence, the holly, which has lost its berries, is the main problem of a campaign in which sales similar to those of the last edition are expected . “We’ve been growing for years, around 10%, and this campaign we’re also predicting significant sales, although the pace is slower,” says Gallifa. This week at the Puríssima bridge, nurseries face peak sales.
However, Christmas tree growers observe a trend that has been playing out in recent years as a result of marketing and consumerism. “Retailers are pushing to have the trees sooner and earlier, the idea has taken hold that when All Saints’ Day is over, Christmas begins and they want to have the tree in the stores sooner,” explains Gallifa. “But you will tell me with trees delivered in mid-November, how can the leaf last 15 or 20 days from now”, reflects Salvador Auger, of Cultius Miralpeix de Sant Hilari Sacalm, who points to the increasing weight of competitors such as the Danish market, which is reducing sales to places like Andalusia or Portugal. “We can’t compete there, costs are more expensive here, labor too; here it is worked manually and there with machinery. In addition, they have a better climate and huge fields”, he says.
Currently, 80% of the specimens that leave the Montseny-Guilleries area stay in the Iberian Peninsula and the remaining 20% ??are exported to European and North African countries. This year, Gallifa explains, markets such as the German, Austrian and Dutch “have been hit by the strong inflation” they are experiencing.
