For a while now things have not been too good in the citrus trade. Many dealers expected an improvement at the start of 2012, but so far this has been a disappointment. Normally things improve in January, but so far this has not been the case, a Dutch citrus importer says. "There is too much stock, which is not being sold and remains in storage. The main cause of this is the crisis, because of which less is being bought. Last year was a lot better, but is was also colder. In general there is an oversupply of all fruit and vegetables.
"The mandarins cost between 2 and 4 Euro per crate. Also the Spanish Navelinas are at a low price, about 6 Euro. In short the citrus prices are a drama. Also the quality of the Spanish mandarins is not very good" according to the trader. "They were nice till the middle of November. After that there was too much rain in Spain and they became watery. Normally we sell more mandarins at Christmas, but this year oranges were the favourites. The Moroccans were good tasting, they had a better time than the Spanish."
According to another citrus specialist it is striking that consumers are more and more attentive to taste. "If a product is not tasty in their opinion the next time they will buy something else. Spanish supermarkets also do not want clementines
any more, but now want clemenvillas. Foreigners do not mind the looks of the mandarins as long as the taste is good. They are no longer interested in clementines and buy the relatively expensive Turkish satsumas."
It is expected that it will remain difficult during the entire month of January and even after that he is not optimistic. "Luckily clementines are almost over and there will be other varieties with a better taste." He mentions that the infighting between Spain and Morocco is still going on. "Much of the Moroccan citrus is supplied to Russia and from there to Europe again. As a result less goes to Europe from Spain.