After years of low profitability in which the farmers were forced to abandon their fields, farmers are starting to feel hope again because of the spike in the domestic price of lemons over the past few weeks. According to citrus producers, this spike in prices is due to the bad weather in Turkey, their main competitor.
"We knew early in the campaign that they expected a decrease in their production, 13% less grapefruit and 14% fewer lemons. Then, the storms and snowfall that occurred in late 2014 and early 2015 increased those losses. Additionally, there's been a decline in the volume of Turkish citrus sent to the European market because they are redirecting it to Russia, as a result of their veto on European products," said the chairman of ASAJA Alicante-Young Farmers.
The bad weather took place in northern, central and eastern Turkey, affecting citrus and other products, such as apricots, which experienced significant losses because of the frost in the region of Maalatya, the largest provider of this fruit in the world.
"The drop in supplies is even greater when one takes into account that there is also a drop in production in other producing countries and in some areas of Spain. We can say that we are practically alone in the markets," added the president of ASAJA Alicante.
Source: Agroinformación.com