According to Asaja Alicante, the current citrus campaign in the province started very conditioned by the end of the previous campaign, in which producers didn't harvest nearly 30% of the oranges because of the impossibility of marketing them. "Now, there is a generalized decrease in Alicante's citrus fruit production due to the difficult weather conditions in spring (the rainiest spring recorded in the Valencian Community) that affected the flowering season; the high summer temperatures, and the delay in the harvesting of the fruit caused by the market situation."

"The Verna lemon variety was the most affected. In a normal campaign producers harvest 100,000 tons of Verna lemons and in this campaign the harvest will stand at 50,000, i.e. a 50% drop in production. The production of Fino lemon has decreased by 15%." According to the agricultural organization, the Lane Late and Powell oranges experienced harvest losses of 30%.

"As a result of the poor setting and depletion of the trees, the campaign started with a historical production loss of one million tons at the national level." Despite this shortage, Asaja Alicante assures that there is a great demand.

"Since maritime transport has become so expensive, European suppliers voluntarily withdrew from the market in advance, during summer, as they were unable to cover the costs with the prices they were being paid for their product in Europe," stated Jose Vicente Andreu, the president of Asaja Alicante and producer of lemons of the Vega Baja. Thus, Argentina stopped sending lemons to Europe at the beginning of August, and South Africa, which now has to comply with cold treatment and assume the high cost of transport, chose to divert the oranges it sent to the EU to Asia.

Andreu celebrated that producers were selling their lemons at a good pace in the countryside and that they were being paid prices that ranged from 0.35 to 0.40 euro per kilo. Regarding mandarins, the Clemenules recorded a 30% increase in price at origin over the previous year; and earlier varieties, such as the Oronules, began to be sold for 0.55 euro, but their price is on the rise, and even got to be sold for up to 0.70 euro/kg. "Navelina is being traded at 0.25-0.30 euro per kilo, depending on its quality and precocity," he added.

In addition, Asaja stated that the high summer temperatures have reduced the caliber of lemons. "They lack the commercial size, which explains why there is less fruit on the market." In addition, our main competitor in winter, Turkey, has experienced a sharp reduction in its harvest due to the frost of the previous year.

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com