"Spain: "In the past, September was our best month"

The Iwasaki, Okitsu and Marisol mandarin campaign has already started for the Valencian producer and exporter José Manuel Pardo.

"Sales are smooth, although prices are tight. European supermarket chains have started making their orders earlier and there is already demand from the Baltic countries. Sales in the traditional market are more complicated, even though the situation is better than in the previous year. Purchases of clementines and mandarins in the field have been made very early this year and have been paid at an average of about 6 cents more than last year, so it is a bit harder to get the fruit to the market," explains the exporter. "We compete with the Southern Hemisphere's late mandarins, which are more expensive than the Iwasaki, Okitsu or Marisol."

The Clemenrubi variety comes with reduced calibres this year, according to the exporter, which is why they prefer to work with other varieties, such as the Marisol. "If we find Clemenrubi of a larger calibre, we may reconsider it."

According to José Manuel Pardo, the extra-early varieties are no longer as profitable for Spanish producers and exporters as they used to. "In the past, September was the best month of the year for our company, but now we are no longer alone. Precocity used to be very appreciated in the market, but now there is less demand and many companies are considering abandoning these varieties. That's why we extend the campaign for as long as we can with mid-season varieties like the Clemenules, with which we worked until March last year."

The exporter is specialised in mandarins and leaf clementines, which are mainly shipped to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium or Italy. "We don't do early varieties with leaf, and we usually wait for later varieties with larger calibres."

"We always have good expectations at the beginning of the season. I love my job and for now we don't plan to grow. We stay at around 23 million kilos and we are happy with that," concludes the exporter.