"Last year, it seemed that consumption had skyrocketed worldwide, but this year the European market is going through a dip as far as citrus consumption in general is concerned. The phones are not ringing like they did last year at this time to make orders, but they actually concentrate at the weekend. "This is going to be a complicated lemon campaign," he said. "Hopefully, if temperatures go down a little, citrus sales will be given a boost."
Meanwhile, Francisco points out that production continues to grow in Murcia, which may result in more difficult campaigns in the future. "Many growers have got rid of their orange trees to plant lemon trees."
The company Belsan, based in the municipality of El Raal, Murcia, sells about 15 million kilos of citrus fruits annually, 90% of which goes to export markets. "We focus exclusively on Spanish lemons; we do not import from the southern hemisphere in the off-season, so we stop our warehouse activity in the summer," he affirms.
The Murcian firm is mainly a supplier of traditional markets, catering chains and some small supermarkets in countries such as Poland, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and France.
"Europe has always been our priority, but given that purchases are falling and prices are low, this campaign we have started opening new sales lines with Canada to be able to obtain better profits from our products. We are already shipping to Montreal and Toronto," states Francisco V. Gea. "We hope to be able to start selling also to the Middle East and Asia in the coming campaign," he adds.
"We have been specialised in lemons for more than 25 years, but this year we have started marketing our own orange production through all our clients and we are achieving very good results."
For more information:
Francisco Vicente Gea Belmonte
Belmonte Sánchez Belsan S.L
Vereda silvestres , 1
30139 El Raal, Murcia. Spain
Tel: +34 968 870 168
francisco@belsansl.com
www.belsansl.com