Peruvian citrus export season is roughly four weeks away, with the first mandarin crops now being harvested and the shadow of El Niño still causing size and quality issues, as increased temperatures have given pests a higher resistance to pesticides.

Sunfruits Manager Manuel Olaechea tells FreshFruitPortal.com that the weather phenomenon greatly affected production during 2023, resulting in smaller sizing. 

"(El Niño) caused a delay in flowering, lowering productivity per acre. But this year we have increased our productive area and we hope to recover the volume since we have about 148 extra acres that came into production," Olaechea says.

The executive says the U.S., China, Europe, Central America, and Canada continue to be the main destination markets for Peruvian citrus. Olachea says that, despite the acreage increase, they struggle with achieving the desired “look” for exports.

"In Ica, we face many complexities when trying to achieve the colors and shades that are most desired for citrus in the market, which is an aesthetic issue, since it is internally ripe, ready for consumption, but still has greenish tones in the skin," he says.

He adds that it is complicated to make people understand that the fruit is, indeed, is ripe inside. 

"That is why we try to open markets that receive fruit with these characteristics. We found a good market, which is China, where we have a commercial window and where mandarins are consumed almost as candy," he indicates.

However, other competitors have entered, such as Morocco and South Africa, have also entered the Chinese market, complicating the Peruvian business “because they leave at a different time and arrive with the fruit with the right color, at the same time as our mandarins in green". 

This is causing prices to be much lower than the cost of production. As for the upcoming season, Olaechea says that they’re looking at much better calibers.

"Our fruit has already set and we see an increase in size compared to last year, returning to the usual sizes. We hope that we will not be affected by El Niño for the season, at least in the region of Ica,” he adds.