Lemon production set to fall 18 per cent to 1.027mn tonnes, while grapefruit output is down 5 per cent at 101,660 tonnes
Spain’s 2025/26 lemon crop is set to weigh in at 1.027mn tonnes, an 18 per cent fall on last season’s total according to preliminary estimates from Ailimpo. According to the interprofessional, planted area remains virtually unchanged at 50,000ha.
By variety, Fino production is down 15 per cent, while Verna volumes are down 25 per cent on last season. This due to the effects of climate change, with an unusually wet spring and hot June impacting the flowering and setting phases of the fruit.
However, Ailimpo said the efforts of growers, supported by Ailimpo’s Agenfis phytosanitary monitoring project, had enabled greater efficiency in pest control this season, which will result in better fruit quality and greater commercial value for the fresh market.
In grapefruit, the interprofessional forecasts a crop of 101,660 tonnes, representing a 5 per cent decrease on the 107,010 produced in 2024/25.
Last year was the first season in which Spanish grapefruit production exceeded 100,000 tonnes, mainly due to new acreage and favourable climatic conditions.
Around 72,000 tonnes of the crop was exported with 80 per cent of shipments going to six European markets: Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland, the UK and Switzerland.
Around 22,000 tonnes went for processing and 6,000 tonnes was sold on the domestic market.
Spain now supplies 50 per cent of the grapefruit consumed in the EU, up from 36 per cent in 2020/21.
