The prices of mid-season mandarins continue their downward trend, and the difference with those recorded in the same dates of the 2022/23 campaign is already significant.
The Prices and Markets Observatory of Andalusia describes the citrus market as "stagnant", with hardly any transactions due to "the sector's demonstrations and protests, as well as logistics issues in the Suez Canal, which are causing fruit to be redirected to the European market and thereby an increase in the influx of citrus from third countries (Egypt, Morocco, or Turkey) with more competitive prices."
This situation is being reflected in the prices at origin of Spanish mandarins. In Andalusia, the average price in week 9 stood at 0.60 euros/kilo; 28.7% below the 0.87 euros/kilo recorded last year.
The Lonja de Valencia has reported the most recent average prices by variety. The "few transactions" recorded for the Nadorcott and Tango have been carried out with an average price of 0.375 euros/kilo, and those for the Orri with one of 0.850 euros/kilo. Looking back, in the same week of the 2022/23 campaign, the prices amounted to 0.925 euros kilo and 1.351 euros/kilo, respectively. This translates into an interannual drop of 59.5% in the prices of Nadorcott and Tango, and of 37% in those of the Orri.
"At the moment, there isn't much demand," says a Spanish mandarin exporter after visiting club mandarin producers in the provinces of Seville and Huelva. "Already 3-4 weeks ago, there were producers offering their Orri for between 70 and 80 cents per kilo, and they couldn't find a buyer. There have been buyers who have even rejected prices of 85 cents, truck included, because they were not sure if they would be able to sell them."
According to the exporter, in Perpignan, the Spanish Orri is being sold for about 1.60 euros/kilo, "so producers can't ask for 1 euro at origin, like in previous years. In fact, the price at origin must have already fallen to between 60 and 70 cents."