The Argentinean lemon harvest has begun with early fruit being sent to Russia, as growers in the north-west of the southern cone country await sufficient fruit size and larger volumes before packing for EU markets.
A very dry spell in November when rainfall was sorely needed has caused the problems with fruit size, despite the fact there have been subsequent heavy rainfalls, in some cases too heavy, Rafael Rodriguez Prados, of the plant health service, Senasa, in the Tucuman region of Argentina, told the Argentinean press.
He said that Senasa was preparing for greater volumes of fruit this season despite the small sizing.
But the Argentineans are likely to find a difficult market in Europe with depressed prices, if stark warnings issued by Spanish group La Unió-Coag are anything to go by.
The grower group estimates that some 30 per cent of the winter Fino lemon crop has remained unharvested even as picking of the summer Verna crop gets underway. Prices have been so low, the union claims, that it has not been worth many growers’ while to harvest their crop. An estimated 47,000 tonnes of lemons will go unpicked in the Valencia region, the union said in a statement.
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