Canadian imports of Spanish oranges are expected to be of good quality this season. With California, the main competition for Spanish oranges, having weather issues, Canadian importers see Spanish fruit as an attractive option.
Dino Gallo of Agri-Mondo, a Canadian importer of fresh produce from around the world, says that the Spanish orange season is slightly ahead of the California season.
“Spain is about ten days ahead of California,” he says.
He adds that the fruit coming from Spain is expected to be larger.
“It looks like California will have small fruit, and with freeze weather and lack of water in California, Spanish fruit might have better quality,” he adds.
But aside from quality of fruit, Gallo notes that because they import most of their oranges to Quebec, it's simply cheaper to get Spanish fruit because of shipping costs.
“From Spain, we can load a container for $5,000, for instance, and to get a similar container from California would cost about $8,000, so for us, it's simply less expensive to get Spanish fruit.”
Canadian imports of Spanish oranges increased last year by 39%.