"EU: "Shortage of easy peel mandarins expected in January"

The Spanish citrus market has gained pace in the past two weeks . "In particular, the marketing of mandarins and lemon is going well. Sales of oranges a bit less well," says Willem Koole of Frukar. "In particular, mandarin sales are increasing for Christmas. Oranges and lemon sales are less spectacular. You also do not have a sales increase with e.g. limes, which we also have in our assortment."

The importer foresees a lack of easy peeler mandarins in the new year. "The season of the easy peelers is almost at its end. Afterwards we switch to Villa and Clemen Late. The Moroccan tangerine season is almost at an end. There are Nour mandarins available, but these are around 40/50% less, lots of programs have been agreed with Russia. I expect that prices will only continue to rise."

There are enough oranges available. Due to the rain in Spain there are the usual quality problems with citrus. "Our supplier Serena will not pick oranges when it rains and this also applies to other shippers. But there are also plenty of shippers who pick during the rain thus impairing the quality. This allows us to be distinguished with quality, but I would prefer to see a quality boost across the board."

For more information:
Frukar
Handelscentrum ZHZ 61
2991 LD Barendrecht
Tel.: 0031 180 65 48 58
Fax: 0031 180 65 45 35
www.frukar.nl