The professional agricultural organization ASAJA Murcia has described the citrus season as "disastrous and very negative," and has blamed the "productions of third countries, especially South Africa, which are seriously damaging the Spanish citrus sector."
The Secretary General of ASAJA Murcia, Alfonso Gálvez Caravaca, has said that "we are witnessing an atypical campaign. It has been badly affected by the "yellow vest" strikes in France, but clearly also by the invasion of citrus fruits from third countries, such as the case of South Africa, which has taken a huge toll on the sales of our citrus fruits in the international markets."
Also, Gálvez Caravaca pointed out that there is a clear need for "an effective restructuring of our citrus sector. Production costs need to be brought down and there should also be a greater focus on internationalization, especially in markets such as Asia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. This would make it possible to diversify our destination markets."
"We cannot allow our oranges and mandarins to be left unharvested while prices hit rock-bottom," says Gálvez Caravaca.
Hope for the second part of the campaign
The representative of ASAJA Murcia said that "the assessment of this first part of the campaign is very bad, but we are hopeful that the second part, starting in January, will be more positive for the producers, with a recovery of prices and more dynamism in purchases in both the field and the foreign markets."