The U.S. Department of Foreign Agricultural Services, in cooperation with ATO Guangzhou, has published the 2016/17 Report of Citrus Fruit Production in China.
Overall estimates are that Chinese Citrus production will reduce. This reduction is due to the effects of the Citrus Greening Disease and poor weather conditions. The reduced production will lead to an increase in prices. Consumers, especially consumers in first tier cities, have higher expectations with regard to quality and for out-of-season fruits. This will continue to drive up imports of citrus fruit into China.
Oranges
For the 2016/17 Marketing Year (November to October), Orange production is estimated to be 6.2 million metric tons, a 10% reduction on last year's total production. Jiang Xi is China's main orange producing region and the production of oranges there continues to suffer from the effects citrus greening. Some industry insiders have reported that the warmer areas of southern Jiang Xi have been subject to serious crop damage from insects, meanwhile there has been a smaller harvest this year following a large harvest last year. Generally speaking, warmer areas have fared worse than cooler areas due to the spread of the citrus greening disease. The citrus greening problem has also affected other orange producing regions, such as Guangxi and Hunan and wetter southern areas, leading to a fall in production for the marketing year 2016/17.
Mandarins and Tangerines
For the 2016/17 Marketing Year (October to September), Chinese mandarin and tangerine production is estimated to be 19.3 million metric tons, down by 5%. This is also mainly due to citrus greening disease and poor weather conditions. Some industry insiders indicated that citrus greening has been particularly harmful to Guangdong mandarins (especially those which ripen later in the growing season) and to it's tangerines. According to traders, the north of Jiangxi province has seen a reduction in its harvest of Nanfeng tangerines. As well as this, it has been reported that Hubei, Hunan and Sichuan have seen small increases in their harvests, while Guangdong, Guangxi and Jiangxi have seen reductions in theirs. Recently published government reports indicate that for the marketing year 2015/16 production figures have been revised to 20 million tons.
Lemon
In the marketing year of 2016/17 (October to September) Lemon production is predicted to reduce by 4% to 420000 tons. Industry insiders have indicated earlier this year in the main lemon growing region of Sichuan. The cold climate had negative effects on growth. The area of Lemon orchards is predicted to rise dramatically in the next year few years, due to growing demand from consumers for fresh lemons.