Egyptian oranges taking over Spanish market share in the Netherlands

The Spanish citrus campaign is developing at a slow pace and with few and far between market operations. "It's hard to keep prices in the European markets due to the high pressure from large distribution chains in terms of volume," explains the commercial director of Aguaparis Gestión S.L.

There is less pressure on the current supply due to the decline in production volumes recorded this year, which has amounted to around 30%, but demand has also contracted. "If we had not lost that 30%, it would have been a catastrophic year. We would have been forced to leave the fruit unharvested because its price would not have exceeded the production and harvesting costs," points out the exporter.

According to Vicente Aguado, consumption in Europe is not increasing, but actually falling. "Such is the example of the Netherlands, where the supply of oranges from Egypt is growing alarmingly. Egyptian oranges are taking market share from us in this market when in season, something incomprehensible, given that they come from a third country with far fewer requirements in terms of quality and food safety. We hope that the Navel and Navel Late from Egypt will be finished within two to three weeks."

The market is more contracted for mandarins than for oranges, although this also depends on the varieties. "There is an increasingly smaller market for late Ortanique clementines. The market prefers varieties such as the Tango, Nadorcott, Murcott and Orri. Although Spain has not yet started shipping Orri, many importers are choosing to purchase Orri from Israel, because they achieve more competitive prices than us, which is surprising, considering that it is logistically more expensive for Israelis to reach Europe."

Aguaparis will close the citrus season in mid-June with oranges from Portugal, from the producing area of ​​Algarve. "They supply good quality Navel oranges which allow us to extend the campaign and continue supplying our customers; however, we prefer to package them in Spain, since Portugal still has plenty of room for improvement when it comes to presentations."

The Valencian trading company works with importers in Belgium, Germany, France and northern Italy. Thanks to a partnership with a US company, they export containers to overseas markets such as Brazil, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates, and they are also trying to break into China, South Korea and other destinations in Asia. "This year, we have made testimonial orange and lemon shipments to China, although progress still has to be made when it comes to the necessary protocols. For this reason, we prefer to ship to Hong Kong."

Furthermore, imports are also brought in for the Spanish market. "Right now, we are working with grapes from Peru and Chile for small supermarket chains. Further down the line, we plan to bring oranges and lemons from Argentina, Uruguay and South Africa."