“The Orri clementine is still profitable, it's just less profitable than it could be,” said Ramie Hessel of Mehadrin. “We had some weather disturbances, but we also had a very good crop, so that made up for the weather.” Damage from hail storms was mitigated by protective nets, and although there is a higher percentage of class-two fruit this year because of the storms, the weather hasn't affected this year's clementine crop. While there is competition from Spain and Morocco, Hessel noted that citrus from those countries is of a lesser quality than the Orri, and they will soon clear out of the market, anyway. According to him, the biggest threat that growers face this season is the exchange rate in Europe.
“The situation has become almost impossible for us, and it's not just with the Orri, it's with all items we export to Europe,” said Hessel. “We're losing money. For the time being, the Orri is doing fine, though not as well as it could, but it's one of the products that keeps the industry going, so if it's much more affected by the currency exchange rate then we will have a problem.”
Grapefruit shipments will soon commence, and Hessel sees parallels between that commodity and the Orri. Red grapefruit from Israel has a leg up on competing grapefruit from Europe, and with Florida a few weeks from wrapping up their export season to Europe, Israeli fruit will become the best-quality fruit on the market. But the exchange rate will cut into profits.
“Turkey will leave the market earlier than usual because of problems they had with frost, so we should see a very good market from mid-March through the rest of our grapefruit season,” said Hessel. “This will be a much better season than the one from last year, and if it wasn't for the currency issue it could have been a very good season.”
Orange exports have been down this season, noted Hessel, because of a strong domestic demand. Storms knocked down the quality of a portion of the crop, and with processors offering good prices at home, little fruit has made it to Europe.
“We just have a few orange programs with supermarkets in Europe,” said Hessel. “We're not pushing it too much because the domestic market is very good for oranges.”
For more information:
Ramie Hessel
Mehadrin
Tel: +972 3 937 1321
hesselr@mtex.co.il
www.mehadrin.co.il