"Oranges reach better prices when they are not ready"

The activities of many citrus warehouses and packaging plants in Valencia and Andalusia have been paralysed due to the rains recorded last week, mostly due to the risks involved in the fruit's marketing after handling and storing it with excess moisture. "Although the warehouses have stopped their activities, it is also true that the rains are needed, as it has been a very dry year. Moreover, this brings some stability to the market," explains Javier Ferrández, manager of Yafer Agrícola.

The Alicante-based firm has 25 producing partners and has its own citrus production in the Vega Baja; a region with an ideal microclimate for oranges, near the sea and with low risk of frost. "My father started this business selling citrus and other fruits and vegetables to Galicia and the Canary Islands in 1964. Over time, the citrus grown in the area gained a great reputation and we decided to focus on them, exporting almost the entire production overseas."

Javier Ferrández exports his citrus to the Scandinavian countries, especially Sweden, and also to Germany (the Munich market), Poland, Croatia and other markets like the Middle East, which are increasingly serving to replace the loss of the Russian market two summers ago.

The company produces and sells around 6 million kilos of citrus, of which about 2 million kilos are lemons and 500,000 kilos are clementines, with the remainder being all oranges. "When our customers find out that, besides oranges, we also have lemons and mandarins, they order the three products, which is a challenge for us, given that we have a single packaging line," he explains.

Overall, Spain's production volume is greater for almost all citrus fruits, as the flowering has been really good, even though the drought has caused sizes to be smaller, especially in the earliest varieties.

"It's hard to find large sizes in the field and this often results in a price war and a series of promotions at supermarkets," he affirms. "We are a small company and it is harder for us to defend ourselves against major firms that need to supply much larger volumes. If to this we add that there are more kilos in the field, we can expect a more difficult season than the last, but we don't want to be pessimistic," points out Javier Ferrández." The recent rainfall will likely lead to an improvement in the sizes of the mid-season and late varieties, although the market will have to adapt to whatever it gets," he adds.