Since the start of Argentina's lemon exports, there has been great uncertainty in the lemon market. For this reason, Walter Ojeda, commercial manager of San Miguel, one of the companies with the highest share in the citrus sector, has presented a balance of the Argentinian lemon campaign and explained the current outlook. "At the beginning of the 2016 campaign, our export estimates pointed to levels that would exceed those of 2015 by an average of 55%. These calculations were made taking the early harvest into account; we had planned to start harvesting almost a month and a half earlier compared to last year, thus opening a much wider market window. Approximately 70% of this volume would be allocated to the European Union," stated the spokesperson.
At the start of the season, it was confirmed that Spain would record a 60% drop in the production of Verna lemons; this entailed a decline of more than 160,000 tonnes and would have resulted in a great context for the early Argentinian harvest. Unfortunately, climate changes made it impossible to meet those expectations. "With the season that Spain was facing, Argentina's premature start was almost certain, with shipments going to Europe about 6 weeks earlier compared to last year, which would have allowed Argentina to export nearly 300,000 tonnes compared to 190,000 tonnes last season," assures Ojeda.
"Since our visit to the fair Fruit Logistica in Berlin, we have felt that the market was eager to receive our product as soon as possible. But the weather played tricks on us, because while Tucuman is always related to rainy autumns, this year, during the months of April and May, the amount of rainfall was unusual. In those months, it was not possible to work properly and the loadings could not be carried out as planned.
We do not believe that this loss of unshipped exports will be recovered from the point of view of the market, as consumers will not buy more fruit now just because it was not possible to buy it in recent weeks. What was lost, will remain lost," asserts the representative of San Miguel.
"In conclusion, it will be impossible to achieve the export volumes that had been predicted for this campaign. At present, we have to focus on meeting the needs of the market with the fruit we have available, supplying it in the most efficient way during the months we have left and with more realistic prospects," he concludes.
"While the campaign has not finished yet, Argentina has exported 87,000 tonnes up until week 23, which is about 50,000 tonnes less than the estimate for that date. But if we look at these figures from another point of view, last year, in the same period, we had exported 60,000 tonnes, which means a 45% growth. However, in the months of June, July and August, the European Union will have fewer lemons available than last year, about 30% to 40% less fruit. The main factor is the drop in the Spanish production, which was not offset by Argentina's shipments," explains Walter Ojeda.
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