Argentina's lemon export campaign has been delayed by around a month due to rains in the Tucumán area, according to an industry representative.

However, Jossé Carbonell, president of Federcitrus, told PortalFruticola.com that the delays could be beneficial for exporters are they are likely to enter into markets with lower supply levels.

"We have had a very intense rainy season in the Tucumán area that has delayed us greatly. We are one month behind due to the water, and it has affected not only citrus, but all of the harvests around this time," he said.

Although normally there would be significant volumes of lemons being exported around this time, Carbonell noted that Spain and  Turkey still had heavy supplies in Northern Hemisphere markets.

"Having cleaner markets [when our fruit arrives], could mean there is more demand for our fruit and better prices," he said. "We should already be in the middle of our exports to Russia and the U.S. and we're only just starting."

Export volumes are expected to be similar to last year, with a greater proportion going to the U.S. and a smaller one going to Europe, due to the large Spanish volumes.

Carbonell is also concerned about the weather forecasts over the coming months, saying that could pose a challenge for the fruit industry.

"It worries us that there are announcements of quite a had winter for the whole Southern Hemisphere, ... very cold weather is going to affect the fruit and the production of the coming year," he said.