“Few large citrus fruits but prices now determine product”

Last year, Spain was hit by storms in September. Mandarins bore the full brunt. That made for lower volumes on the market. That, in turn, meant favorable price formations in the 2019/2020 season.

This year is, however, different. Instead of excessive precipitation, the drought is now hampering the harvest. “Although there’s sufficient availability, the weather is mainly affecting the sizes,” says Ronnie Moorman from Willem Dijk in the Netherlands. “There are few large oranges available. I think this will increase in the coming weeks. That’s thanks to the weather. But the current fruit isn’t big.”

But even without large fruits, citrus seems to be selling itself. “At the end of October, we received a load of size 80 oranges. We’d never usually do that, only with juicing oranges. But we sold that load in a flash. Currently, prices determine the product. We had a fantastic season with South African citrus. I hope Spain can now take over from the southern hemisphere without too many problems. So far, that seems to be working well."

"We’ve had our Filosofo brand on the market since mid-October already. This 60-year-old brand is doing great," says Ronnie. "And at the beginning of November, we added the Elephant label. There was a small dip at the end of October, but only with clementines. This premium fruit is already of excellent quality. That’s important at the start of the season. If you start with bad fruit, it ruins the rest of your season.”

Second lockdown mainly affecting juicing oranges and limes
Moorman's noticed that the various European countries’ second lockdowns are affecting citrus sales. “A box of juicing oranges’ price has dropped to between €12 and €17. That’s due to the stricter measures in Europe. At the beginning of November, this product’s market price even fell below €10."

"The closure of the hospitality sector somewhat weakened that constant summer demand. Mandarins are, however, experiencing little inconvenience. The Dutch retail sector is now filling its holiday season programs again. Nevertheless, the weather could be somewhat colder there. That would boost consumer demand for mandarins. But we absolutely can’t complain.”

The same goes for limes as for juicing oranges. “There are currently many batches still arriving from Peru, Mexico, and Brazil. But, there’s no market for them now. Their prices have fallen enormously to €2 and €3 a box," adds Ronnie. "We already have limes from Spain. But they’re currently far pricier than the overseas limes. That makes sales much more difficult, and we have to discount them too. You certainly shouldn’t underestimate the hospitality sector's impact on the fresh fruit and vegetable sector. The coming weeks are, therefore, going to be eventful.”

Competition from the Mediterranean
There are other Mediterranean countries, besides Spain, on the market too. These include Turkey and Morocco. “Besides its lemons, Turkey also has nice sized grapefruits. That country has really caught up in recent years with the quality of their fruit. And they have some larger sizes on the market this year. Israel is also on the market with grapefruits.”

Morocco was on the market very early this year. That was with the first early mandarins from the northeastern region of Berkane. “Still, for now, Dutch people prefer Spanish Oronules and leaf mandarins. Egypt is also supposedly expecting an excellent orange harvest. But they aren’t on the market yet,” concludes Ronnie.