There is hardly any fruit left in the fields of the Valencian Community, Andalusia, Murcia or Catalonia as the citrus harvesting season is ending and prices at source can be three hundred percent higher than in the same period of the previous campaign, as confirmed by the latest information bulletins of the Lonjas de València and Córdoba.
Prices have skyrocketed as this campaign's production volume has been the lowest in recent decades and 17.7% lower than in the previous one. As for the later varieties, the Valencia Late has been sold in the field for € 0.37 to € 0.52/kg, i.e. €4.8 to €6.6/ arroba (almost 12 kilograms). The late Barberina and Midknight varieties have also improved, as their price ranges between 4.8 and 7.2 euros per arroba, i.e. more than double the 1.8 to 3.1 euro/arroba average of the previous season.
Premium tangerine prices are also rising sharply. This is the case of the Israeli Orri, which achieved a price of 1.5 euro per kilogram (a little more than 19 euro per arroba) in the Lonja de València at the end of its collection a couple of weeks ago. The Nadorcott, Tango, and Ortanique varieties have also registered much higher prices than in 2022, but not as high as the Orri, according to the Lonja de Citricos de València and that of Cordoba.
At the end of the campaign, the sectors price forecasts for the 2022/23 campaign were right in general, reaching higher values than in the previous campaign (+60.2% in oranges, +24.1% in mandarins, and +29.8% in lemons). However, agricultural organizations recall that the prices paid for oranges in the fields in the 2021/22 campaign were the lowest of the last five campaigns.
Source: evante-emv.com