The producers of the protected mandarin variety Orri have managed to market around 52,000 tonnes in the 2018 season. The results obtained in their third season, following the voluntary regularization carried out by TEO, the master licensee of the variety in Spain and Portugal, entails a 100% increase compared to the previous campaign (26,000 tonnes). Also, the Orri has again been the mandarin variety with the best prices in the market, with an average of approximately 1 Euro/kg at origin.
By provinces, 27.85% of the mandarins sold correspond to the province of Huelva, 22.95% to the province of Valencia, 15.95% to the Region of Murcia, 13.85% to the province of Castellon, 8.7% to Almeria, 5.8% to Alicante and 4.9% to the province of Seville.
This premium variety is mainly characterised by how easy they are to peel, the low amount of seeds and their organoleptic properties, with a high sugar content that gives it a characteristic sweet taste. Also, it has a very strong skin, with an intense orange colour that guarantees a good shelf life both in the tree and in the post-harvest and after-sales. The harvesting period is thus very long.
Its excellent shelf life is precisely what has allowed Orri mandarins to consolidate as the variety with the longest commercial campaign on the market, reaching 5 months (from December to May).
The Orri Running Committee (ORC), an association formed by more than 480 producers of this variety, expects the current upward trend to continue in the next campaign, in which they expect the volume marketed to exceed 60 million kilos.
Regular inspections in wholesale markets and large stores in Spain, the United Kingdom and France
During the current campaign, regular inspections have been made in the framework of ORC's promotional actions to safeguard the value of Orri mandarins and protect consumers from possible fraud. These have been carried out in six of the main points of sale in the Wholesale Market Network in Spain, as well as in large stores in Spain, the United Kingdom and France. More than 20 points of sale have been inspected.
During the inspections, there have been checks on possible labelling inaccuracies, with traceability monitoring carried out to verify the legal origin of the production, and there have also been analyses made with molecular markers to verify whether the product marketed was really Orri mandarins.
The ORC claims that "these actions aim to prevent the labelling of other mandarins as Orri, not only because this would be fraud to the consumer, but also because it generates confusion and can potentially prevent the Orri variety from being linked with its excellent properties."
The inspections have revealed the possible marketing of approximately 400 tonnes of Orri mandarins from illegal plantations, against which legal action has already been taken. The ORC has highlighted that "those items compete in the market with an advantage that results from a breach of the law, since they do not have to bear the costs associated with the royalty or with the variety's control. It is a grievance for the producers who do respect the law."
The ORC will continue with these inspections in the following campaigns, and has offered its collaboration and advice "to all points of sale and other agents that are part of the supply chain. The idea is to help them improve their knowledge about the Orri variety, as well as about the product's correct identification, based on its unique morphological characteristics."