According to information released this week by the agriculture office of the Andalusia regional executive, citrus production in the southern Spanish region has tripled in value over the last three years.
The region is now Spain's second largest citrus production area after Valencia, accounting for 20 per cent of the national crop and 10 per cent of the EU harvest. Citrus is produced on 55,000ha in Andalusia in southern Spain, which is a 50 per cent increase over the last 20 years.
The main growing areas within the province are Huelva, Almeria and Seville. Only 20 per cent of production is destined for the processing market. Growers are grouped mainly into one of 30 different producer organisations.
The forecast for the 2002-03 season is for an increase of 10 per cent in volume terms to 1.276million tonnes. Overall the national citrus crop is forecast to increase by just 1.4 per cent on 2001-02.
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