Spain: Almería exported 9.4 million kilos of citrus by February
According to some exporters, it's always small shipments, but Almería citrus is opening new markets abroad. Apart from traditional exports to Germany, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands or Italy, companies in the province are now selling mandarins to Moldavia, Romania and Saudi Arabia. As for lemons, the new markets are Sweden and Russia, as underlined by the delegate from the Council for Agriculture and Fishing, José Antonio Salinas.
Between last January and February, companies in Almería exported 9.4 million kilos of citrus, some 49% more than in the same period of last year and almost double than in 2010. These shipments reached 6.1 million Euro of value, representing a raise of 33%, according to the last data from the Spanish Institute of External Commerce.
Oranges and mandarins
Oranges are the most valued citrus in shipments to foreign markets, with 2.9 million Euro of turnover, followed by mandarins with 2.3 million Euro. As for lemons, it's value was of 736,000 Euro. With the remaining for grapefruit.
Germany is confirmed as the first destination for the citrus of Almería. In total, between January and February products were sent there adding up to 2.3 million Euro, meaning, 38% of the total of exports. To the French market were sent products valued in 1.3 million Euro (25% of the total); while the Netherlands acquired 14.6% of the exported amounts.
As said before, apart from the shipments sent to these destinations, Moldavia in the list of Almería clients is calling up all the attention. The mandarins sent there were valued at 33,000Euro, some 1.4% of the total.
Regarding the lemons sale, Italy displaced Germany as the main client and acquired 38% of the total. On their side, Sweden had a taste of these citrus when acquiring 1,370 Euro of product, while Russia got 4,400Euro (some 0.6% of the total).
Source: Almeria360.com