Federcitrus president José Carbonell expects his country Argentina will witness an increase in sweet citrus shipments in 2016, particularly in oranges.

The industry will need to be careful how it manages the extra supply however, given the challenges experienced with international prices in years past.

"In general the season is toning up, especially in oranges because we are coming out of three years of strong international price falls in markets like Europe, Russia, the Ukraine and even Canada, but this year Europe has prices up 50%," Carbonell told www.freshfruitportal.com.

He highlighted citrus production was very segmented in Argentina's northwest, while sweet citrus production in the northeast was made up mostly of SMEs.

As a result, he says there is a very marked difference between these two regions in their production.

"We think this year there will be a 50% increase in orange exports. The increase in mandarins will be less, around 20%, because we have had some quality problems due to summers and early autumns that have been wet," he said.

"Also, there are problems in that some mandarins no longer have demand globally, like the Japanese Satsuma and Okitsu.

"They are mandarins that all of a sudden markets are not demanding. Today they are looking for Nadorcott, Nova, Murcott and clementines," he said, adding that in Argentina there was a local variety called the Criolla (creole) that was highly sought after domestically but was not exported.

He said the Argentine citrus sector was also trying to have a protocol with China modified to increase the maximum required cold treatment temperature to 1.7°C; a measure that Japan has accepted.

"In this way we can ensure that lemons arrive in perfect condition," he concluded.

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