Spanish lemons in plentiful supply

Spanish lemon sector leaders have warned they still have plenty of fruit available as southern hemisphere suppliers assess their crops and Turkey continues to compete strongly in Europe.

José Andrés López, president of Murcia-based lemon and grapefruit sector group Ailimpo, said: “Primofiori and Verna lemons from Spain will continue to arrive on our international markets... in line with the dates forecast at the beginning of the season and even beyond, giving good availability of Spanish lemons right into the summer.”

Meanwhile, the 30-strong group of Murcian and Valencian companies that make up the Ibérica Hortofrutícola association is concerned that Murcia lemon exporters are losing out to Turkey. Association president Juan de Dios Hernández said that something was clearly going wrong if Turkey was almost doubling its exports, while those from Spain were decreasing.