The terrible citrus campaign, which has dealt a tremendous blow to Castellon's producers, has also hit companies hard. The president of Asociex, Jorge García, estimates the drop in shipments in the season that is coming to an end "at around 10%," and according to data from the Icex (until February; last figure available), the decline has been of 6.4%.
Despite this sharp drop (which has been noticeable in most countries), there are markets that are recording an upward trend. One of them, as highlighted by García, is China, which is where "shipments have increased the most," he acknowledged.
However, he also said that the Asian giant is not a viable alternative to export citrus from Castellon. The reason is that almost all the fruit that goes there are oranges, which can better endure the month it takes for them to get there, while clementines, which is what the province and cooperatives are mainly trading, reach that destination in very poor condition.
Thus, although shipments from Castellon to China have tripled this year and the last, the 3 million Euro generated by those exports (in 2014 nothing was exported) are still a meagre figure.
Meanwhile, the market that has recorded the worse performance this campaign has been the US, as stated by the president of Asociex, who estimated the number of tonnes shipped from Castellon to Philadelphia this campaign at between 10,000 and 12,000." Thus, after six years of drops in shipments, the sector has almost lost the American market, because the US "has planted a lot of clementines, nadorcott, mandarins, etc.," and this local competition makes it very difficult to sell the Spanish fruit, which is subject to a very restrictive protocol to be shipped to the US.
The Pound does not help
Regarding other traditional markets, the president of Asociex affirmed that the impact of the devaluation of the pound caused by the Brexit "is starting to be felt in the export volume of Castellon's clementines to the UK." And ahead of the future, he called for the reopening of the Russian market, which has been closed for years due to the ban on imports of European food products, as well as the Indian one, which has many millions of potential customers.
Source: elperiodicomediterraneo.com
