2022/2023 citrus campaign, As Levante-EMV announced on Wednesday, beyond the 8% drop compared to the previous one in the Valencian Community, Spain’s other orange regions will also experience a significant reduction in production; namely Andalusia, Murcia and Catalonia. Thus, the citrus capacity prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture It foresees a production of 5,968 million tons. These figures, as verified andreport submitted by the ministry Luis Planas represents a significant decrease compared to previous harvests. 15.6% of the last campaign and 12.8% of the average of the last five years (1.1 million tons less). To find a campaign with fewer products, you need to go back to the 2012/13 campaign. As a result, according to the latest available data, cultivated areas increased by 1.7% in 2021, totaling 219,096 hectares.
According to that agriculture department, “The extreme weather conditions recorded this year were basically decisive in this low production. heavy rain during flowering and fruit setting and extremely high temperatures in later stages and irrigation restrictions in some areas.” However, the ministry stated that “lcold treatment for oranges from third countries (referring to South Africa) will be a key element in the development of the new campaign”. In this way, the Spanish Government hopes that the European citrus invasion from the aforementioned South African country will be stopped and this will have repercussions on a recovery in Europe. Spanish citrus demand and therefore devastating for farmers an increase in origin prices compared to the previous campaign.
On a product basis, it will be the oranges that experienced the most decline, with a decrease of 19.9% compared to the previous campaign and 15.7% compared to the average of the last five years. Small citrus fruits (9.8% year-on-year and 9.1% above the average of recent campaigns), lemons (down 12.4% and 11.3%, respectively) and grapefruit (13.7% and 4.5%) will decrease. Orange will be the citrus with the highest production, as usual, at 3,0010,491 tonnes, 50.4% of the total. 75% of oranges correspond to the core group. as you progress Upgrade-EMVC. Valenciana’s citrus harvesting capacity is estimated at 2.99. millions of tons1.2 million correspond to tangerines and 1.4 million to oranges. A volume of 256,000 tons is estimated in lemons.
According to the ministry, tangerine production across Spain will rise to 1,953,954 tons, 32.7% of the total., with clementines as the majority group (56% of minor citrus). Lemon production, the lowest figure in the last seven campaigns, is estimated at 918,802 tons, 15.4% of total citrus production. Grapefruit production will reach 75,394 tonnes, 1.3% of total citrus fruit, which will be the lowest harvest of the last three campaigns, following consecutive production records in the previous two seasons.
More planting land
this top growing areas More than 10% are targeted for lemons and grapefruits, with the biggest boom in Murcia with an increase of around 7%, followed by Andalusia (3.2%). The Citrus campaign started on September 1 with an important innovation for its development; cold treatment for imports into the European Union of oranges from countries such as South Africa where the orange tree moth is common. Defended by Spain.
Valencian Community It will have a 49% market share in terms of production across Spain, compared to 47% last year. according to the results Harvest capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Government. However, this percentage is much lower than it was forty years ago, when it made up about 80%. It is clear that citrus production in Spain has been repositioned in recent years due to the upward trend in Murcia and above all Andalusia compared to the stability and downward trend in the Valencian Community. “In the last five years, Spanish exports of oranges and tangerines from the Valencian Community represented 78% of the total, although the harvest represented only 50% of the total Spanish production. Production was shifted south, but marketing decreased. It remained in the Community”, says the consultant francisco borras in a report published by Valencia Fruits.