Citrus production in Uruguay will fall by 27 per cent (or around 88,000 tonnes) to some 243,000 tonnes in 2013 due to inclement weather.
According to a forecast compiled by the Uruguayan Ministry of Agriculture (Mgap) using data from producers across the country, the volume is similar to that of 2009 when an intense drought and hail affected the crop.
“This time, the decrease in production is due fundamentally to inclement weather last year including frosts in June 2012, which significantly affected the state of the plants and caused losses in the trees and therefore significantly reduced both flowering and fructification,” Mgap said in its report.
Although the volume is inferior to previous years, Mgap said the good quality of the fruit presents favourable export opportunities.
Orange volume in 2013 will fall by 22 per cent to 122,408 tonnes; mandarins will contract by 30 per cent to 86,738 tonnes; lemons will decline by 33 per cent to 31,245 tonnes and grapefruit will slide by 7 per cent to 2,167 tonnes.
Mgap said the total number of citrus plants in Uruguay this year has also fallen by 2 per cent to 7.2m plants.
However, producers revealed to Mgap their intention to sow 208,000 additional citrus plants during 2013, which is equivalent to 3 per cent of current production.
Of that total, grapefruit will see the highest level of new plantings at 5 per cent.
Mgap said it will release an updated and final citrus report in November.
