Spain’s citrus sector is preparing to harvest a much improved citrus crop this season, featuring “better production and higher quality fruit” than a year ago, according to leading figures in the industry.
In a forecast issued this week, the Spanish interprofessional association for lemon and grapefruit producers Ailimpo, said growers in Almeria, Alicante, Malaga and Murcia were likely to produce an estimated 810,000 tonnes for the 2008/09 campaign, which is due to start on 1 October.
The association said the expected harvest would be markedly better than the 2007/08 campaign when the crop was badly affected by adverse climactic conditions. However, Ailimpo said the estimate was “substantially lower” than the 2006/07 campaign.
Fermín Sánchez Navarro, managing director of Murcia-based fresh produce association Hortiberia, said the group were hopeful of seeing “good production figures, of increased quality, in line with the increasing demand from international markets”.
Despite the optimism surrounding the campaign, Alfonso Gálvez Caravaca, general secretary of Asaja Murcia, sounded a cautious note. “Producers and marketers have to plan in an ordered manner and stagger the production to avoid saturating the market or losing sales, as has happened in previous years,” he said.
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