Leading Spanish fresh produce marketer Anecoop has said that in spite of having a “disastrous” citrus campaign during which volumes slumped by almost half, the group’s Clementine and mandarin exports benefited from a considerable increase in prices.
According to Anecoop president, Juan Safont, the 2008/09 campaign, which ran between 1 October 2008 and 30 September 2009, was “one to forget”, while in the words of the cooperative’s managing director, José María Planells, it was “a disaster”.
However, Mr Planells told El País that although the citrus harvest “fell by a little under half, Clementine sales doubled in price” compared with the previous season.
“The sector can breathe a little easier because we will earn more than last year,” he said. “Although we will only produce slightly more than half of what we produced during the previous campaign, prices have doubled.”
In spite of the disappointing citrus campaign, the company’s 87 allied cooperatives marketed some 670,000 tonnes of fresh produce and wine during 2009, an increase of 19 per cent on the year before.
Anecoop has also announced the launch of a new variety of Clementine, called Clemensoon, which it believes could help extend the citrus calendar.
The group said it had “high expectations” for the variety, which it will begin planting next year, with the first crop expected within the next three seasons.
Anecoop markets an estimated 10 per cent of the entire annual Spanish citrus crop, which in itself represents around half of the company’s total volume of business.
