Early indications are that the 2007-08 Spanish citrus crop will be lighter than that of the season just ending.
According to trade and promotional body Intercitrus, flowering has been lighter than for last year’s crop and there are some producers who have stopped irrigating because of poor profitability in their sector. These two factors combined have led Intercitrus to estimate a lower crop, but there is no official figure yet.
Growers are already saying that the 2006-07 season will go down as one of the worst in history due to “ruinous prices”, but an increase in exports has come to the salvation of the sector. Calculations taken by Intercitrus at the end of April indicated that exports rose by 400,000 tonnes year on year to 3.25 million tonnes. In particular, sendings to Poland and the Czech Republic have risen.
Estimates at the beginning of the 2006-07 season forecast a five per cent increase on last season in citrus production, but as sizes of later varieties in the second half of the season have grown, overall production has increased in volume terms. Quality has been good.
Meanwhile, growers’ association Coag has said that it will no longer take an active role in Intercitrus, following what it described as the worst presidency in the brief history of the organisation, with Murcian marketer Antonio Muñoz at the helm. Enrique Bellés, director of the Valencia federation of co-ops Fecoav, took up the presidency last Wednesday at the Intercitrus agm. He will head up the trade body for 12 months.
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