Inspectors from the Spanish official export surveillance and regulatory authority SOIVRE have reported that the citrus season is running at least one to two weeks behind recent averages.
They have also indicated that last year’s problems with sizing are not being repeated this season.
But growers’ leaders are warning against over-eagerness on the part of producers keen to fill a gap in the marketplace.
Cristóbal Aguado, president of Ava-Asaja, said: “There is the risk that certain unscrupulous operators try to take advantage of an opening on the market and bring forward the harvest, even though they know that their clementines have not yet reached the right level of maturity.”
Aguado said that his association would “report and demand sanctions against” any producer acting in this way.
Meanwhile, the report issued by SOIVRE also found that early clementines are showing high levels of juice, despite the delay to the start of the season. According to Ava-Asaja, the SOIVRE data is further confirmation of the opportunity growers have to promote their easy peelers and oranges this winter as a weapon in the fight against flu.
The association is working with citrus promotion body Intercitrus and the regional executive in Valencia on a wide range of campaign activity focusing on the vitamin C content of citrus.
Given the high quality of Spanish citrus this year, low pest and disease incidence, and the forecast for a 20-25 per cent decline in citrus output as well as a health warning of the prevalence of flu this winter, Aguado believes the outlook is very good for his sector. He said: “All these factors make us think there will be a recovery in producers’ income. There is no justification to the contrary.”
