Argentine citrus production set to improve
Argentina's lemon production for the 2014-2015 season is expected to reach 1.15 million metric tons and orange production for that same period of time is expected to reach 950,000 MT, according to a report by the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service. Tangerine production is forecast at 450,000 MT.
While citrus production is expected to improve over that from the previous season, it's still below normal levels. Plants are still recovering from frost that hit the country during the 2012-2013 season, and it's not expected that they will fully recuperate until the 2015-2016 season. Additionally, excess rain during the summer of 2015 delayed the lemon harvest by about a month, affected quality and reduced pack-out yields from 45 percent to 30 percent.
While the production picture is improving in one sense, growers and exporters are still worried about rising production costs. Labor, input, energy and transportation costs are all rising, and the high inflation rate has put the country's exporters at a disadvantage.