In the 2024/25 season, citrus production is expected to differ significantly from initial estimates in regions such as Almeria, where orange and mandarin productions had been expected to grow by 0.5% and 4.5%, respectively, and instead, the sector has announced decreases of around 15 to 20% for oranges and over 30% for mandarins, according to Juan Torres, Manager of Cítricos del Andarax SAT.
"In our SAT we specialize in organic citrus, but the situation of conventional crops can be extrapolated to the organic," he says. "Fortunately, Cítricos del Andarax has partners not only in Almeria, but also in Seville, Cordoba, Cadiz, Granada, Murcia, and Alicante, where the situation of the production is much better."
"As for the demand for organic citrus, mandarin demand is good. There's limited production and prices have remained at a reasonable level; however, in the case of oranges, demand and prices have dropped by around 15%. For the last 3-4 seasons, especially in October and the first half of November, South African oranges appear to be increasingly displacing us from the market," says Juan.
"Organic juice already represents around 70% of our SAT's production"
"In the organic sector, we also have the problem that the supply is increasing, but consumption is not growing, which has a direct impact on prices. Added to this is the rise in costs, so in many cases, growers and warehouses can barely make a profit," he says.
"Nonetheless, at Cítricos del Andarax we remain strongly committed to organic citrus, which we have been working with for 25 years now. The crops traditionally grown by us in the Almeria and Granada area were already practically organic, which made it very easy for us to make this decision. Over the years, we have also increasingly specialized in the production of organic juice, which already represents around 70% of our SAT's production. Last year, for example, we produced 6 million liters," says Juan.
"In recent years, we have seen consumer trends shifting towards squeezed fruit and, in fact, the market for juice and processed by-products from organic citrus is becoming more profitable than the fresh market," he says.
"The price of organic juice is generally good, and above all, production costs are much lower and mainly labor-related. In this regard, it's necessary to point out that this year's juice prices are not reaching last year's levels, but they remain higher than the average of previous years, and they still offer better profitability than selling the fruit in nets to supermarkets," says Juan. "The added advantage is that, for the time being, organic orange juice doesn't face so much external competition - with the exception of Italy - and we can say that we have a fairly exclusive product; although in the long term, there will be some."
"Just as in the year 2000 we were practically alone in the organic citrus market and now big companies and investment groups have started to produce them, big competitors such as Egypt are developing their own citrus processing industry," says Juan. "We don't know yet what percentage of their production will be organic. We may still have a few years without competition; however, what we can be sure of is that there will come a time when we will have to face up to Egyptian juice."
For more information:
Cítricos del Andarax SAT
Organización de Productores n.º 501
Paraje Llano del Ron S/N
04560 - Gádor, Almeria. Spain
Tel.: +34 950 646 020
info@citricosdelandaraxsat.com
http://www.citricosdelandaraxsat.com/