Drought reduces lemon volumes in Argentina
"We know that there are effects, but only during this month, when the analysis complete on farms we will be sure about the results of this drought. But the comments in the meetings with CTA confirm that there's less fruit than last year", resumed Sánchez Loria, clarifying that, despite the situation not looking alarming like for soya, that will have cultivations reduced by half as a consequence of the drought. "There are concerns, but to be honest, we still don't know how we will be affected".
In the citrus activity, a drop in production is balanced by better prices, since Tucumán, as one of the main world producers of citrus, affects the world values of the fruit. "Maybe this time there's no price balance, since we noticed a "lukewarm" environment in Europe - main destination for tucuman fresh lemon - due to the crisis affecting that continent", added Sánchez Loria, underlining that, despite that, the lemon export business "will not stop because of the European crisis", since this commerce is properly structured.
"What was made clear is that it will not affect the quality of the exporting citrus. One of the effects of the drought is the smaller size of the fruit, but that production will be destined for industrial processing", he ended.
Source: atcitrus