Following last week’s article on the loss of 750,000 tonnes of citrus to the Spanish weather, Juan Bautista Juan of Valencia’s citrus regulatory council, told freshinfo that citrus prices in the main European markets have to reflect the reality of the supply situation soon, or growers will be facing severe financial difficulties.
He said at Fruit Logistica: “Prices are not going up, despite the reduced supply and that is not sustainable. Of course the market is concerned about quality issues, but if there is no realism in prices then growers in Spain will be in big trouble.”
He added that it is still too difficult to make any concrete predictions for the forthcoming weeks and months, as the Spanish citrus sector suffers its worst weather damage since 1985.
Juan also said: The major problems have been caused by hail stones, rather than the freeze, he said, with the mixed bag of quality turning up at Valencia’s packhouses providing the main headache for exporters. “Some growers have escaped without damage, but the majority have problems and there is a lot of mixed quality going through the system,” he said. “The biggest issue is that the outer of the fruit is not showing the damage and it is only when you cut it open that the internal problems become apparent.”
That, of course, is a major problem for packers desperate to fulfil programmes and reliant on smaller volumes. Internal discolouration and bruising is almost impossible to pick up prior to shipping, but any fruit that slips the net has the tendency to break down either during shipping or after arrival with the customer.
Juan said that exporters in Spain and importers from around Europe have been looking at Morocco and Egypt, as well as Israel, to supplement Spanish volume, but warned: “There are climatic problems in Morocco too, although they are isolated to certain areas, and while people have to look elsewhere for their fruit to maintain their programmes, they should be wary.
“I don’t see the switch to other supply sources affecting the market in the long-term,” he added. “The quality of Spanish fruit is far superior and our logistics advantages far outweigh the option of sourcing citrus from further afield.”
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