The extreme weather conditions during the summer did not have a significant impact on the citrus production in Greece, says Nick Nafpliotis, company director of fresh produce exporter Greek & Fresh: “Greece did experience extremely hot weathering last July. However, the citrus was fortunately not affected by this, nor from the frost. This means that in general, the quality of Greek oranges and Clementines is very good this season. Quantities are a bit lower than they were last season, as we’re seeing a drop of about ten per cent, which is only a minor difference”.

The situation halfway across the world is having a big impact on the orange season in Greece as well as in Europe, Nafpliotis explains. “According to the research group Fundecitrus, the rapid spread of the greening disease in Brazil, which seems to have infected about 38% of Brazil’s production area, can see their yields reduced by 60 per cent over the next five years. Furthermore, according to CitrusBR, which is a group representing Brazil’s major citrus producers, the orange juice stock of the Brazilian processors is currently at the lowest levels of the last twelve years, due to both weather and greening impacts.”

“As a result, we see that the prices of oranges for the industry has increased substantially so far, which will certainly have an effect on the table oranges as well. In Greece for example, the selling price of industrial oranges has more than doubled since last year. This means that we expect to see big increases in the orange prices, at least in the beginning of the season. For us, the major markets are Romania, Hungary, Czech and the Baltics. I expect that Greece will be able to maintain its EU market share and serve its usual customers without any problems,” Nafpliotis concludes.

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com