“Flat nectarine for retail is a demanded product format: convenient, premium, understandable for the consumer and able to create higher value on the shelf,” says David Sahakyan, founder of the Armenian fruit company BellyBella Fruit Company. – The buyer does not think in agronomy categories. He chooses a fruit that is convenient to take to school, eat on the road, put in the office lunch or buy as a beautiful and tasty product. In this sense, the flat nectarine is much closer to the modern snack format than the classic seasonal fruit.”
According to the assessment of Staay Food Group, a European player in the fresh fruit and vegetable trade, flat nectarines are becoming a significant trend in the stone fruit category due to retail interest, convenience and an attractive flavor profile. Growers are expanding acreage under this category, so the availability and consumption of flat nectarines will increase in the coming years.
That said, the European stone fruit market remains volatile. According to Europêch 2025, European production of peaches and nectarines was estimated at around 3.2 million tons, 7% below 2024 levels. In Spain, the largest European producer of this category, total production of peaches and nectarines was forecast at more than 1.4 million tons, down 5% from a year earlier. In the flat peach segment, the decline was estimated at around 7%, reflecting the sensitivity of this fruit to weather and climate risks.
Given the characteristics of the market, retailers are carefully evaluating origin and price, as well as the supplier’s ability to give a predictable category: consistent flavor, caliber, packaging, refrigeration, traceability, systematicity and quality.
“For retailers, what matters is the finished commercial product: clear in positioning, easy to display, manageable in quality and adapted to different sales formats. Flat nectarines reach their potential when the customer gets the expected flavor, appearance and high quality again and again. First purchase creates interest, repeat purchase builds trust, and stability over the season turns the product into a full-fledged category.We are developing the production of flat peaches, flat nectarines and plums in Armenia and consider flat nectarine as one of the most promising positions for European and international markets,” emphasizes David Sahakyan.
So far, the official world statistics on peaches and nectarines most often combines different types of products into one commodity group and does not single out flat forms separately. Therefore, the real changes in the segment of flat peaches and flat nectarines today are better seen not in aggregated statistics, but in signals from breeders, nurseries, networks, specialized brands and companies, which are the first to invest in this category, analysts note EastFruit.
