ASAJA Alicante reports that the adverse weather conditions recorded last month have caused "a very significant decline in the lemon production." Therefore, the production of the 2023/2024 campaign, previously estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at 1,167,444 tons, will be lower than anticipated.
"The severe hailstorm that hit almost all the lemon-producing municipalities of the Vega Baja del Segura region (San Fulgencio, Dolores, Almoradí, Benejúzar, Orihuela, Algorfa, Jacarilla, Bigastro, Rojales, Albatera, Benijófar, Callosa de Segura, Las Dayas, Granja de Rocamora and San Isidro) in September caused 31.7% of the insured lemon production to be lost. In fact, technicians of the Alicante agricultural association estimated the losses at 18,972 tons distributed over 884.1 hectares."
"If we extrapolate that figure to Alicante, whose production was expected to reach 360,000 tons, we can say that 114,000 tons have been lost in this province alone," said the president of ASAJA Alicante and also citrus producer José Vicente Andreu, who claims that many producers have lost virtually their entire productions in a matter of ten minutes due to the heavy hailstorm. "To this we must add the damage caused by the hailstorm in some lemon-producing municipalities in the region of Murcia; therefore, the total lemon production won't come anywhere near the million tons."
Besides, excessive heat and water shortages during the summer months, which is when the fruit acquires thickness, has led to the production not reaching the expected size of 60 millimeters. "Currently, very small lemons are being cut from the trees in order to meet the demand; lemons that do not exceed 50-55 millimeters, a size that would normally be discarded, but is now being marketed," said Andreu. The estimated production volume is also being revised, as those smaller citrus fruits obviously weigh less.
For all these reasons, ASAJA Alicante believes that the lemon production in the 2023/2024 season "won't reach a million tons, despite the optimism in the estimates from the Ministry and from the Interprofessional Association of Lemon and Grapefruit, which had expected the total volume in Spain to reach 1,167,444 and 1,365,000 tons, respectively".
Source: alicanteasaja.com