New figures shared by industry association Federcitrus indicate a continued downturn in the country’s citrus export business
Argentina exported significantly less citrus last year than it did in 2022, as the sector’s downward trend over the past decade continued.
According to a new report published by industry association Federcitrus, the country sold 282,122 tonnes of citrus to foreign customers in 2023, a lot less than the 360,236 tonnes it shipped abroad in 2022.
As Fruitnet reported previously, the Argentinean citrus business has been hampered by a lack of competitiveness, a trend driven by a mixture of low profitability, rising costs, dollar inflation, and increasing global supply on a more competitive international market.
Lemon exports fell 7 per cent year on year to 220,890 tonnes, while shipments of mandarins and oranges were down by 41.6 per cent and 50 per cent to 25,652 tonnes and 35,080 tonnes respectively.
Its biggest destination markets for lemons in 2023 were the EU (74,991 tonnes), Russia (35,712 tonnes), Spain (24,129 tonnes) and the Netherlands (23,893 tonnes).
Despite the general downturn in exports, Argentina produced its biggest citrus crop on record in 2023 and accounted for more than 21 per cent of global lemon production, according to the report.
Lemon and orange production was the highest in at least a decade at 2.32mn tonnes and 1.06mn tonnes respectively, while mandarins and grapefruit were also above their five-year averages at 376,781 tonnes and 3.88mn tonnes respectively.
