The Argentinean fresh lemon industry is apparently set to experience another difficult export campaign this year as a result of climate change, rising costs and the economic downturn in Europe, according to a report by El Cronista.
Following the worst year in more than a decade during 2010, performance last year marked a close result to the historic production of 2007.
However, despite an increase in fresh exports to 264,000 tonnes, compared with 203,033 tonnes in 2010, Argentinean consultancy abeceb claims a number of factors could reverse this positive trend during 2012.
In particular, the result of climate change has led forecasters to predict drought during the first months of the year and frosts during the Argentinean winter, the report said.
The anticipated ongoing rise in costs is also putting a dampener on profitability expectations for the season, following a 20 per cent hike in dollar costs during 2010/11, according to figures from Inta.
A further concern is the continued economic crisis in Europe, which remains the leading destination for Argentinean lemons, particularly the Netherlands, which absorbs 25 per cent of total exports, followed by Russia and Italy.
The processed lemon industry, meanwhile, has been faring much better and Abeceb says the hope is that this sector will perform strongly again this year.
Argentina also remains in negotiations to re-open the US lemon market as well as gain entry to China, which would expand supply options for the fresh export industry, according to the report.
Argentina is the world’s largest lemon exporter. Last year, production rose by 34 per cent during 2011 to 1.5m tonnes, according to figures from the USDA.
