The development of the lemon and grapefruit campaign in the Region of Murcia has so far been financially positive, despite a 30 percent drop in volume in the current harvest.
This is the main conclusion drawn from the meeting held on Thursday between the General Director of Productions and Markets, Fulgencio Pérez, and the director of the Interprofessional for Lemon and Grapefruit (Ailimpo), Jose Antonio García, at the headquarters of the Council of Water, Agriculture and Environment.
The 30 percent decline in the global production volume this season, compared to last year, is exceptional and can be attributed to the weather conditions that affected the fruit during the setting in the month of April 2015.
This has led to the export volume falling by 9 percent and to the amount of lemons shipped to the processing industry being also lower than usual.
However, despite this decline, the activity's financial balance is still positive due to the rise in prices. We will have to wait until the end of the campaign, in July, to have a global balance.
Spain has planted 38,000 hectares of lemons, of which 22,000 are located in the Region of Murcia. Of the total 710,000 tonnes expected to be harvested at national level this season, 60 percent (about 400,000 tonnes) correspond to Murcia.
Also, 80 percent of Spain's exports are handled by Murcian exporters and 90 percent of the lemons intended for processing are transformed into other products in plants based in Murcia.
The meeting also served to discuss the free trade agreement with the U.S., which is currently being negotiated by the European Commission. In this sense, the General Director said that an agreement could be beneficial because it would open new business opportunities for the fruit and vegetable sector, both for fresh and processed products.
