A strong start to Argentina’s lemon campaign faces derailment following a series of devastating frosts in the province of Tucumán in the last week of July, which are believed to have caused widespread damage to unharvested fruit, as well as the trees themselves.
Roberto Sánchez Loria, president of the Tucumán citrus association ATC says lemon production could be down by as much as 20 per cent, while in easy peelers and oranges the losses could be even greater.
The season had begun positively in Europe, however, with shipments up significantly in the first weeks of the season compared with last year.
“Demand is up sharply, partly as a result of the shorter Spanish crop and also because we’re seeing less competition from South Africa, which has opted to focus more on markets outside the European Union,” Carlos Bertolotti of Citromax told Eurofruit.
“The challenge now is to try and find an equilibrium between supply and market demand.”
According to Ignacio Schatz of Citrus Sur, shipments got off to an early start, with the first consignments bound for Russia setting off some four to six weeks ahead of normal. He says lemon prices – as well as those of easy peelers – have been boosted by lower shipments from other Southern Hemisphere suppliers.
“The fact that the northern European spring was somewhat cooler and rainier than usual also helped keep demand for citrus buoyant during the early stages of the season when we face more competition from summer fruits,” he explained to Eurofruit.
In terms of size profiles, this season is characterised abundance of medium to smaller sizes in lemons, while in oranges and easy peelers the reverse is true.
As a result of the recent frosts, All Lemon, the quality seal for Argentinean lemons, has tightened quality controls to ensure that the quality of exports is not impacted.
