It's still too early to calculate if the prices at origin in this campaign, which are better than in the previous campaigns, "compensate" for the decrease in production, which will be slightly higher than last season, but 14.4% below the average of the last five, stated Carles Peris, the secretary general of the agricultural organization Unió Llauradora.
As for the products, there will be more lemon and less orange. According to Ailimpo, lemon production levels in this campaign, which began at the end of September, are very similar to the levels achieved in the 2021-2022 campaign, which means that the sector is "returning to normal production levels." According to the Ministry of Agriculture, production is estimated at 1,167,444 tons, which represents a 28% increase over the previous year.
In addition, there's been an "orderly" and "clean" transition between the citrus campaign in the southern hemisphere, with imports from Argentina, South Africa, and Uruguay, and the start of the northern hemisphere campaign, with Spain at the head, in which the fruit has not overlapped.
The MAPA forecasts the country will produce 2,643,299 tons of oranges in this campaign, i.e. 8.2% less volume than in the previous season and almost 24% or 832,000 tons less than the average. According to Jose Antonio Garcia, the director of Ailimpo, the Lemon and Grapefruit Inter-branch Association, in the last two years, production has been lower than normal, which has helped other producing countries, such as Egypt, to better position themselves.
It's worth noting that, between January and September of this year, Europe has imported 827,928 tons of oranges, i.e. 49%, 272,200 tons, more than in the same period of 2022.
Source: efeagro.com