Spanish clementines

This season’s Spanish citrus campaign is likely to feature smaller sizes than a year ago, but will deliver sweeter fruit, with higher sugar content.

An extended barren spell in Valencia region – the principal production area for Spanish citrus – has delayed the start of the season, with the lack of rainfall resulting in smaller fruit being produced.

However, these same climatological circumstances have also delivered fruit with much sugar and a sweeter taste, although with less juice than last season’s crop, Valencia Market’s pricing roundtable told news agency EFE.

The organisation’s president, Jenaro Aviñó, said that the smaller crop was expected to lead to better returns for growers, generating “greater optimism” in the sector for the season. He added that early volumes were reaching markets “little by little” and so far receiving “acceptable prices”.

By contrast, EFE reported that harvesting had already begun in the Andalusian provinces of Huelva and Sevilla, with sizes of the early clementine varieties Clemenrubi and Okitsu said to be larger than last season.

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