The 2022-23 season has been a successful one for most citrus imports in the EU, especially oranges. 

Total citrus imports from January through April in 2023 increased 21% year-on-year, reaching 566,897 tons. Egypt alone increased its volume by 83% during the same period.

Oranges are leading the increase in volume, specifically from Egypt, with imports increasing 189% by June year-on-year. 

The total volume of oranges imported to the EU between September 2022 and June 2023 was 816,370 tons, a 40% increase from the 2020-21 season.

With these numbers, oranges accounted for 51% of total citrus imports, while small citrus fruit had 27% of the share, followed by lemons and grapefruit with 11% and 10% respectively.

Importing countries

Even though Egypt is leading the leading orange import country, South Africa remains as the leading citrus supplier to the EU with 31% of all the volume. During the 2022-23 campaign, it increased its import volumes by 28%. 

Egypt saw a staggering overall volume increase of 47%, followed by Zimbabwe with 29% and Israel with 9%.

Some countries saw a decrease in volume as well, including China with almost 36% decrease, Argentina (-30%), Morocco (-23%), and Turkey (-20%).

Other citrus fruit

Numbers for lemons and grapefruit have not been as good as oranges. Lemon imports this season have fallen 23% to 234,547 tons. 

Grapefruit has also lost some volume during the 2022-23 campaign, with an 12% decrease, down to 171,465 tons. 

South Africa is the main provider of lemons and grapefruits to the EU.