A sharp fall in citrus shipments led to a significant drop in Spain's fruit exports to the U.S. in the first four months of 2016, but a big upward swing in vegetables kept the overall fresh produce trade figures fairly stable.

In a release, industry organization Fepex said the Mediterranean country's U.S.-bound fresh produce exports were down slightly by 1% at €11.7 million (US$12.94 million) for the period.

The analysis was based on data from Spain's Department of Customs and Special Taxes.

Mandarin export volume dropped 89% to 559 metric tons (MT), while the decline was less pronounced in value falling 64% to €1.9 million (US$2.1 million).

Representing a much lower share of the total, Fepex highlighted persimmon shipments to the U.S. also dropped, at rates of 41% in volume (224MT) and 37% in value (€281,464 | US$311,201).

The story was much more positive for vegetables however, with garlic exports up 160% in volume at 2,087MT and 281% in value at €6.7 million (US$7.4 million), and cucumber shipments rising 61% to 471MT with 37% more in returns at €553,966 (US$612,564).

While the variation was relatively high for both fruits and vegetables, it is worth noting that in the same period Spanish produce export volume worldwide totaled 4.7 million MT with a value of €4.84 billion (US$5.35 billion).

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