The Satsuma mandarin season will be coming to an end in the coming weeks with some conflicting results. While high temperatures took a toll to some extent on the level of acidity and colour of the skin at the beginning of the season, this didn't result in a lower demand for the fruit. "Demand is stable and has been much more active than in previous years. We believe that this is mainly because the harvests finished earlier than usual in the northern hemisphere, which prevented a concentration of supply. The reduction in the Spanish production caused prices to increase significantly," states Marianela Rodríguez, representative of CPF.
"These record prices that we managed to get are relatively offsetting the decline in our production. We started the season with the prospect to export 350 containers, but we estimate that we will not reach more than 250, which is relatively low for an 'on' year like this one. El Niño has affected us, and even though prices are now becoming normal again, we don't expect producers to be significantly affected," continues Rodríguez.
The harvest of the Nova and Tangelo varieties will start in the coming weeks. "The temperature is still a little higher than average, forcing us to have a more proactive attitude and to perform various checks every week to control the fruit's development, as high temperatures may delay their colouring. For a mandarin's colour to change, it needs a sudden change in temperature between night and day, but we now have a stable temperature and 2 degrees higher than normal. These conditions are resulting in a slower change of colour," stresses the spokesperson.
