"We need good calibers for our Clemen Rubi to be competitive"

The harvest of the first Clemen Rubí clementines of the new season in Valencia will start next week for the company Agrios Selectos, based in Real de Gandía, which is best known for its trademark Brio Fruits. However, it won't be until the week following their harvest when they will finally be shipped to the markets.

For now, the total volume of citrus fruits to be harvested in the Region of Valencia or in the rest of Spain is still unknown, but everything points to a recovery compared to the previous season. "Based on what we see in the field, we are going to have a full production; however, it remains to be seen how much fruit will be affected by the hail storms this summer and won't be used for fresh consumption," says Abel Alarcón, manager of Brio Fruits.

Besides, the sizes are currently smaller compared to last season. "This year it will be more difficult to find large sizes for early clementines. Rain has been forecast for this week, and this could help the fruit become a bit larger."

The Clemen Rubí variety will hit the market at a time when there are still mandarins from the southern hemisphere, such as the Nadorcott from Peru and Chile. "Those mandarins are appreciated in the markets and reach good calibers, so it will be difficult to compete with our early clementines. If we want to compete with those varieties, we'll have to offer Clemen Rubí with good calibers, color and sweetness."

The Valencian company ships its citrus fruits mainly to EU markets, although some of the production also goes to more distant countries, like Canada, and some tests were also carried out last year in China, where oranges were exported.

"The trade dispute between China and the United States, with the consequent increase in tariffs for US citrus fruits in the Chinese market, could open a door for us and give us the chance to ship more oranges. At the moment, Spanish oranges stand somewhere between the Egyptian and the American when it comes to prices and prestige. I believe that the reputation of Spanish oranges would greatly improve under a big umbrella brand, just like the US does," says the exporter.

This season, Brio Fruits is launching new drying tunnels and a state-of-the-art palletizer. This follows a two-year process to modernize the machinery, which has resulted in the full automation of the handling and confectioning line.