A few weeks ago, the Union de Uniones de Agricultores y Ganaderos estimated that the citrus harvest for the 2023-2024 campaign would remain below 5.8 million tons - also below last season -, that there would be a contraction in the production of small citrus fruits (mandarins and clementines) and oranges, and an increase in the production of lemons and grapefruits.
In that scenario, which also includes the reluctance to consume that agricultural groups have denounced on other occasions, the company Cítrics de Nules, the last one left in the area of Castellon, announced that it was leaving the sector as it was bankrupt, which will affect more than a thousand workers.
According to Ramon Angel Serra, secretary of the agri-food sector of FICA-UGT in Castellón, the cooperatives "have been unable to adapt to the tastes demanded by consumers nor do they have cutting-edge technology to reduce production expenses. The cooperatives haven't sought solutions to deal with the monstrous major brands in a scenario where these brands receive a lot of money from investment funds."
The secretary general of La Unió Llauradora i Ramadera, Carles Peris, said that the problems that the Cítrics de Nules faces stem from the previous campaigns in which farmers have had to continuously sell their products at very low prices. He also blamed the company for focusing on the production of Clemenules, which in his opinion has caused it to destabilize after continuous years of ruinous prices. In addition, he said, the cooperative "has not been able to withstand its debts."
Regarding prices, in recent weeks there are many varieties that are still in the tree and the Citrus Price Table only records operations in the Navel variety. The first prices of the season published by the Citrus Market of Valencia showed that prices ranged between 0.206 euro per kilo of Navelina to almost 0.67 euro per kilo of Oronules; within the subgroup of clementines, however, the Clemenules registered the lowest average price, with € 0.36/kg.
Source: lavanguardia.com