A decline in the citrus crop is foreseen due to the low temperatures in the first months of this year. The Agri-Food Industry CEO, Angel Garcia Lidón stressed, the excellent quality of the harvest and said that "despite the dry weather and delayed gauges, the start of the campaign is expected in early October as normal," informed Carm.
According to estimates of the Ministry, the total citrus crop amounted to 557,000 tons, representing a decrease of 14.9 percent compared to last season, which represented 654,983 tons. The low temperatures affected mainly lemons, with a decline of 21.6 percent, and especially to the variety Fino, which had a greater amount of fruit in tree. To a lesser extent the orange (5.9 percent) and tangerine (2.4 percent) were affected. Instead, grapefruit rose 0.8 percent.
Garcia Lidón stressed that Murcia is the third citrus producing community in Spain, which represented in the last year, 13 percent of the value of all plant products of the region, and 9 percent of agri-industry output.
Furthermore, Murcia is the main producer of lime and grapefruit. In 2011 the Region's Citrus accounted for 8 percent of the total national production. In 2010, the production of lime and grapefruit accounted for 56 and 68 percent, respectively, of the domestic production.