Citrus exports equal the turnover of the previous year, although down 12.4%
Exports of citrus season 2015-2016 have matched the turnover of the previous season, which was a record, despite having experienced a reduction of 12.4%, which is attributed from the Citrus Management Committee (CGC) to the fact that unit prices have significantly improved. It also highlighted how the fall of the citrus harvest of this campaign reaches level of the fifth best export campaign in history.
Without knowing the final balance of the season 2015/16 and export data subsequent to May months Citrus Management Committee (CGC) has taken stock of the citrus season is ending, the 2015/16, in which the sharp decline in production has not translated in a parallel drop in exports.
This season reduced production has no impact on the regular supply to markets, although yes there was an early end to the campaign. Not Even at the time of peak demand, when usually produce imbalances between supply and demand which often affect prices, it came to consummating a decline in exports and a fall in prices. Until the end of the year, in fact, exports of oranges were 8% higher in tonnage from the previous season, the best-selling in history, despite which prices were on average 10% higher.
The national private employers citrus trade estimates, based on a projection of the ICEX official data obtained until May, foreign trade citrus will reach at the end of the campaign in August 3.64 million tons of tangerines, oranges, lemons and grapefruits.
At the level of the fifth best season
These figures are far from the historical record obtained in the above campaign -the 2014/15-, 4.15 million tonnes but would place the same level as the fifth best ever recorded campaign, achieved in 2010/11. Such good results have occurred at the expense of a significant reduction in tonnage dedicated to processing into juice and thanks to a better use for the circuit fresh derived from an optimal management of waste. The good performance of the markets and the excellent quality and good fruit caliber allowed the logical decline in overseas sales after a record produced campaign (the CGC estimated at -12.4%) has come to be considerably more lower than was predicted by national official traffic counts, promising a significant decrease in harvest to 19.3%.
That initial downward forecast was motivated by climatic incidents which occurred in May 2015 when intense heat and low relative humidity took to the water stress limit to the citrus groves of much of the country, causing a massive drop fruit in the time of the curdling. Subsequently, the Generalitat Valenciana made a second set of initial forecasts, which eventually reduced such crop estimate to -17.5% for the whole entire country (6.02 million tons).
On the other hand, it is to signify the strong concentration of shipments to the Community market, which the CGC estimated to have led 93% of the export tonnage (3.182 million tons), a percentage that is similar to that obtained in previous campaigns.
Source: Citrus Management Committee
