Spanish citrus regulatory body PGI Cítricos Valencianos is hopeful of achieving further solid growth in marketed volumes this year following a successful 2007/08 campaign, which was achieved in spite of a 25 per cent fall in production.
The Valencia-based organisation revealed this week that its member producers had sold over 14,350 tonnes of citrus during the 2007/08 season, a similar figure to the previous campaign’s 14,328 tonnes.
In a statement, Cítricos Valencianos president Enrique Blasco said the volume consolidation was particularly significant when the year-on-year 25 per cent fall in production that the Valencia region suffered during the season was taken into account.
The PGI group now has 7,043 member producers who together farm more than 8,599ha of citrus, a figure which marks an increase of over 800ha compared with the 2006/07 campaign.
For the campaign ahead, Mr Blasco said the reglator remained optimistic about further prospects for growth.
“We have to be ambitious and have to continue to increase volumes achieved during the previous campaign, while we also have to continue to generate contacts among distributors to increase our presence in citrus markets,” he said.
