Food & Drink News ~ Spanish exports under threat as drought continues to affect it�s wine and olive production

Spain�s agriculture production, particularly it�s grape and olive crops are coming under threat as around half the country is on alert of drought.The Spanish reservoirs are standing  at 56 percent, the lowest since June 1995, and the summer is only just getting started. This April was the hottest this century, and only heavy rainfall in the autumn could help.save the olive crop.

Spain  is the world's leading olive producer and provides 50% of the global supply of olive oil and 35 percent of table olives. Last year�s poor harvest throughout the Mediterranean in general reduced the world production of olive oil by 11%. Producers in the province of Ja�n in Andalucia one of the main areas for Spanish olive crops, are warning that if the shortage of rain continues, it will have serious consequences on the harvest which has suffered already due to a few dry years. As a result, olive oil prices have surged by almost a quarter this year.

The country�s wine producers are also hoping for rain, only a break in the continual dry weather could help a year that has already seen production drop of up to 50% in some regions. It is almost a certainty that the volume produced will be down, but without some cooler weather in August the period when the grapes come to maturity, the overall quality of the wine is also in danger.