A decreased supply of grapefruit from Florida, Israel and South Africa puts Spain in an advantageous position in Europe as the country continues to gather pace in the sector.

As the export campaign finishes up, the country's Lemon and Grapefruit Interprofessional Association (Ailimpo) Jose Antonio García Fernández says Spain is now second place to Turkey as a key Northern Hemisphere grapefruit supplier into Europe.

Although there was a 20% reduction on grapefruit volumes and a 35% decrease in lemon quantity compared to the previous year, Fernández says it was still a decent campaign.

"Last year we had heavy problems with the weather at the end of April and beginning of May, with very high temperatures. Although that was last year, it’s clear the weather had a big impact on the crop for this year," he tells www.freshfruitportal.com.

"We are finishing with the citrus crop in Spain within the next one or two weeks. In the case of grapefruit, we had 80% of the potential crop so we reduced our exports, but the season has been quite good.

"The reduction was because of the high temperatures - these affected all varieties of citrus. In the case of lemons, the season has also been good, with good prices for the growers, less quantities exported and less quantities sent to processing as we are more focused on the fresh markets."

The Spanish sector concentrated on Europe this year rather than countries outside of member states. Germany absorbs the greatest volumes of grapefruit, followed by France, Italy and the Netherlands, and is also the leading importer of Spain’s lemons.

"In the case of grapefruit, it’s important to note that Florida has been reducing quantities year by year to the European market, Israel is also reducing quantities exported to Europe so Spain is getting a good position in the market with good volumes.

"Then during the summer we have the supply from South Africa. But from October to May, the season for the northern hemisphere, it’s important to note that ten years ago Spain was not important as a supplier of grapefruit in Europe, but now we are the second biggest supplier in the market.

"We are the leading supplier of lemons in Europe from October to July and followed by Turkey, however, it’s also important to note that the quality and service of the product is quite different when you compare Spanish and Turkish lemons."

Looking ahead

Early indications for the remainder of this year’s growing season look fairly solid with no repeat of last year’s high temperatures, so far at least.

Orchard assessments are planned for June when Fernández will get a better idea of production.

"The weather is quite normal at this moment. We are starting the summer weather and everything is okay so far and we have no complaints.

"It’s too early to have an estimate for the harvest of the next season, but we will have provisional data at the end of June and will most probably we will be publishing a forecast for lemon and grapefruit in mid-July.

"We have to wait to see how the orchards are doing throughout June and watch what the weather does."

If everything goes according to plan, the first lemon harvest would be around the third week of September, while grapefruit is a little later in the second or third week of October.

"There is a while to go yet so we will monitor everything closely but for now the weather is good and there is no indication of it adversely affecting crops as it did last year."

Citrus black spot

Last week, www.freshfruitportal.com reported the relaxing of regulations concerning South Africa’s citrus exports to Europe.

Experts in the South African sector put this down to big improvements made in the industry to adhere to the EU’s strict import regulations, amid concerns over CBS interceptions at the border.

Fernández agrees South Africa has worked hard on negating CBS problems, but remains cautious over the general threat of the disease spreading into Europe.

"It’s a very important issue and we are trying to work together with the South African sector and are passing the message to our South African colleagues that of course we are worried about the possibility of CBS being introduced in Europe, or in the Mediterranean producing areas, and they fully understand our opinion.

"If these producing countries, in the southern hemisphere, do things properly then of course there will be no problems in Europe with CBS, but we always say that we want to import citrus into Europe and not citrus diseases, so everybody has to do the right things.

"If you compare the situation in South Africa six years ago, they have improved but we want to be 100% sure. We recognize they are doings things and making a good effort to comply with European legislation."

Photo: www.shutterstock.com

www.freshfruitportal.com