Citrus producers in the Spanish province of Seville are happy about this year's rains. They have gone from suffering the impact of drought and not being sure whether they would manage to get their productions going to being able to do so and, moreover, with good quality and sizes.
"The fields have benefited from a year of rains, and we expect a normal citrus fruit production volume, with good sizes and quality peel. This rainfall has put an end to the drought and allowed us to continue growing crops," says Rocío Soriano, manager of Alcafruit.
© Alcafruit
"I believe that the hailstorms recorded in the Castellon area have only taken a toll on mandarins, but we haven't received any calls from buyers, because we grow late crops, so we are working with other varieties," she says.
"Our main markets are European, and we mostly serve retail chains. We work with programs for Germany, France, Norway, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Italy, among others. The bulk of the volume goes to supermarkets."
As far as exports are concerned, "the political situation is making things more and more complicated," says Soriano. "We work with Canada, Brazil, Central America, and China, but it all depends on the campaign's development and on the current situation of the fruit, the markets, and maritime logistics. Shipping companies are taking longer and longer to complete their routes, and for fresh produce, this can be a handicap. The political situation is very much affecting exports. There are still ongoing problems in the Suez Canal, and shipping to China is now taking 40 days, which has made things quite difficult," says the manager.
"As for organic citrus, everything will depend on the financial capacity of the consumer country".
Europe is a large consumer of organic citrus, with France standing out the most, according to Soriano; however, "there are growers here who are giving up on organic production because the conventional is becoming more and more similar, but everything will depend on the financial capacity of the consumer country. In any case, the organic is bound to be more expensive because of the higher costs. At the same time, citrus is a product that is often on sale. Few consumers can afford to pay a premium just because of the product being organic," says the manager, adding that "moreover, nowadays, conventional productions are very healthy crops."
© Alcafruit
"Organic citrus cultivation has been expanding because of the price difference in the market, but there is already less demand for organic citrus and a lot of supply, and I believe that the law of supply and demand will balance things out," says the manager.
As far as the elimination of tariffs on South African citrus is concerned, Soriano says: "We import oranges from South Africa when we don't have any here; the problem is when the arrival of those goods overlaps with our own production. Their prices are always going to be more competitive, so they'll drag ours down or put us out of the game directly. Imports should be limited to avoid harm to the European production."
Regarding the growth of the orange juice industry in Egypt and its more limited presence in the European market, Soriano says: "We welcome the news because it is reducing the pressure on fresh orange sales, but we believe that we'll have to compete with their juicing oranges, and the problem is that the minimum prices of fresh oranges are shaped by that, too. We could struggle because of Egyptian juicing oranges, pushing prices down."
© Alcafruit
Moroccan crops have also been hit hard by drought. The manager says that, because of this, "Moroccan oranges are expected to be less present in the European market. Normally, they enter without restrictions, and their productions overlap with ours, and once we start overlapping with all these countries, there's nothing for us to do."
Alcafruit produces and sells 32 million kilos of oranges from mid-October to August. Late mandarins from Seville are supplied between January and March.
For more information:
Rocío Soriano
Alcafruit
Tel.: +34 637 77 54 97
[email protected]
www.alcafruit.es
