New data released by Freshfel Europe and the Southern Hemisphere Association of Fresh Fruit Exporters (SHAFFE) shows citrus production in the Southern Hemisphere countries surveyed should reach 6.24m tonnes this year, up 0.5 per cent on 2009.
Peru (2.3 per cent), South Africa (5 per cent) and Uruguay (11.6 per cent) are all expected to record production increases, while output is set to fall in both Argentina and Australia, by 4 and 6 per cent respectively.
Production of both oranges and mandarins is expected to rise, by 5.8 and 8.8 per cent, while lemon production will drop 10.8 per cent and grapefruit levels will fall by 6.4 per cent.
Exports from all surveyed countries are also reported to be up by 4.9 per cent on last year's figures to reach 2,234,515 tonnes.
Exports of all products except grapefruit are expected to increase, with orange exports up 5.2 per cent and mandarins up 12 per cent. Lemon exports are tipped to rise 8.8 per cent while grapefruit exports are predicted to fall by 12.7 per cent to be just above 200,000 tonnes.
