Spain expects a significantly smaller mandarin and orange harvest in the 2015/2016 campaign. In Valencia, high temperatures (above 40 degrees Celsius) during the fruit setting, combined with frequent hailstorms, have resulted in a drop of between 20 and 25% in the expected orange production. The most affected are the Navelina, Navel Lane and Salustiana varieties.
The volume reduction for Clementinas and mandarins also stands at about 25%, despite the up to 40% growth of the earlier varieties, such as Iwasaki, Okitsu, Clausellina, Oronul, Marisol and Clemenrubi, among others.
While many plots have managed to endure the heat and the fruit's quality is quite good, many hailstorms have been registered, forcing producers to carry out a more thorough thinning. A good volume of damaged fruit will have to be marketed as second class or go to the processing industry.
"The harvest has yet to begin, but the market has already started buying citrus with much energy and prices between 8 and 15% higher than at the start of last year's campaign," states Cristóbal Aguado, president of AVA-ASAJA, in an interview with FreshPlaza. "Even batches from plantations whose quality would not have allowed them to enter the market in a normal campaign are being purchased," he says.
According to Cristóbal, "retailers and distributors want to ensure enough supply, so that when the harvest kicks off they don't need to go looking for the fruit. In any case, the good start of the season does not mean that prices are going to stay at good levels throughout the campaign, because these will depend on the changing market conditions."
"Valencia needs to reform its plantation ownership structure"
The Region of Valencia has already lost almost 25,000 hectares of citrus over the past 10 years and another 20,000 of other fruits as a result of poor prices. Last year, some 3,000 hectares of farmland were recovered, with 2,000 of them planted with kakis. "Our severe recession has led many young people to look to agriculture for some source of income," says Cristóbal Aguado, who adds that "sooner or later they will end up abandoning it because of the low profitability."
"Valencian farms need European, national and regional funds for investments in varietal improvement, as well as a reform in the land ownership structure for farms to become larger and thus more viable."
Andalusia will also have drop in production
In Andalusia there will also be a drop in production due to the impact of heat waves and the age of many plots. However, Andalusian citrus producing areas do not suffer the water shortage issues that exist in Valencia. The trend in Andalusia is to switch from oranges to clementines and to reduce the total acreage devoted to citrus cultivation, with almonds being the most common alternative chosen by producers.
"The EU has shown not to be efficient in dealing with the Russian veto"
The consequences of the closure of the Russian market affected all fruits and vegetables, including citrus.
In the words of Cristóbal Aguado: "The announced search for alternative markets to Russia and the help we were to obtain from Brussels to stabilise prices have not yielded the expected results. Overall, the campaign was a disaster, particularly for oranges. Only in the citrus sector, Valencian growers have lost around 34 million Euro. I believe that the EU has not shown to be efficient in dealing with these circumstances. Before engaging in international political conflicts, they should take into account their economic sectors. We have not seen reasonable economic compensations proportional to the damage caused by their decisions."
