Asaja forecasts a 30% drop in Almería’s almond crop, but in Albox and Tíjola the harvest will be like 2025’s
Asaja expects frost and drought to cut Almería's almond crop by 30%. In Albox and Tíjola the season will be similar to 2025, but 'borregos' (almonds that fail to open properly) are a concern.
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The almond season is getting under way in the north of Almería with forecasts pointing downwards. The farmers’ organisation Asaja Almería estimates that production across the province will fall by around 30% this year, a cut it attributes to last spring’s frosts and the lack of rain in recent months, according to the estimates it released this Monday, which were reported by Europa Press.
That said, the blow is not spread evenly. Los Vélez comes off worst: there, the frosts caused “significant damage” to the almond trees, and the first harvesting work has confirmed the losses that had been feared. Asaja warns that this shortfall means a “significant economic impact” for many farms in that district.
In the Almanzora Valley, however, the picture is different. In municipalities such as Albox and Tíjola, where the frosts were barely felt, the organisation expects a season like last year’s, and even slightly better on some farms. It forecasts something similar for Chirivel, in Los Vélez, while in Huércal-Overa, with more water available, it expects a harvest similar to the previous one.
The threat of the ‘borregos’
The fact that the frosts were barely felt does not spare the Almanzora from worries. Here the problem comes from the lack of rain, which has encouraged the appearance of so-called ‘borregos’, almonds that fail to open properly. According to Asaja, mixing them with commercial almonds “significantly reduces the final price the farmer receives”.
And prices? The first reference prices are around €1.10 per kilo for conventional almonds and €2.20 for organic ones, although the organisation considers it premature to predict how the market will behave over the course of the season.
A key crop in the north
And almonds are no ordinary crop in this part of the province. In March 2025, during the Gala de la Almendra (Almond Gala) in Oria, the territorial delegate for Agriculture of the Andalusian regional government (Junta de Andalucía) described the nut sector as “the most important agriculture in the north of the province”, as reported at the time by Almería Provincial Council.
With the harvest still in its early stages, the final outcome will depend on how many ‘borregos’ turn up in the batches and on how prices, which have not yet settled, evolve.
