Last year, Turkish producers experienced a major shortage of lemons, and of citrus in general, as a result of unfavourable weather conditions, including frost early in 2012 and heavy rainfall during the flowering period.
According to Aysel Oguz of exporter Eren Tarim, such a scenario affected prices significantly, while making sales more challenging.
This year, on the other hand, climatic conditions have been more amenable to citrus production, which has raised expectations for the forthcoming season.
“As usual, we will start with the Meyer variety and then continue with the Interdonato before finishing the season with the Lamas,” said Oguz. “The volume of Interdonato lemons looks better than last season, although it appears to be less than previous years. As for Lamas lemons, the volume looks good, as we had predicted.'
The main reason for optimism about the upcoming season, however, is the quality of the fruit, and Oguz stated that growers were anticipating high-quality lemons this year.
