Severe price fluctuations have been a major feature of the 2015/16 Valencia citrus campaign this year, with supermarket price promotions causing considerable disruption to producers.
The latest official estimates point to a 19.03 per cent fall in production, pegging the crop at 3.18m tonnes.
Francisco Rodríguez Mulero from the Valencia Ministry for Rural Development told Efeagro that production was “two or three percentage points higher than the original estimate of 3.05m tonnes released in September 2015, but still well below the 2014/15 total of 3.93m tonnes.
The biggest drop has been in lemons (-27.5 per cent), followed by mandarins (-20 per cent) and oranges (-18 per cent).
Rodríguez said there has been considerable variation in prices this season depending on the variety, stage of the season and other circumstances.
“Generally, you could say that there has been a recovery in prices and that certain varieties at least were more commercially viable than in the previous three seasons,” he said.
He noted that the supermarkets were a major factor behind this season’s unstable prices by heavily discounting citrus at certain points in the season, causing significant swings in the prices paid to producers “which do not correspond to the realities of supply and demand”.
Rodríguez said that licensed clementine varieties such as Clemenules, Orograndes and Hernandina started the campaign with strong prices, although these fell somewhat as the season progressed. Other varieties that did well include Nadorcott, Afourer and Clemenvilla.
In oranges, Navel “enjoyed good periods”, Rodríguez said, adding that “in the case of both oranges and clementines a positive aspect of the campaign was that unlike in previous years there was very little fruit left on the trees and in spite of the significant fall in production, markets had been well supplied”.
Referring to the 2016/17 season, he explained that blossoming in early varieties was good but extremely early. “It remains to be seen how the warm winter will affect the new harvest,” Rodríguez said.
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