How is the citrus season progressing so far? What differences do you see between oranges, clementines and mandarins? And between production areas in Spain?
It has been a season with a difficult start. Everyone is aware of the significant overlap this year between our season and fruit from the Southern Hemisphere, especially South Africa. Climate conditions continue to show the clear effects of climate change, with very high summer temperatures affecting final production volumes and adding stress to crop development.
In Andalusia, a widespread decline in estimates is confirmed, while in Valencia and Catalonia they are moderately low. In the case of clementines, early varieties have shown some recovery from moderate levels; however, for the main campaign, a short commercial crop is expected in the Valencian Community. As for hybrid mandarins, they also show a significant reduction in commercial production.
For oranges, a substantial decrease in production is expected in Andalusia and a more moderate decline in Valencia. The slow pace of orange exports recorded until early December is a matter of concern.
Regarding lemons, the expected drop in production has been confirmed in the field. As for grapefruits, production remains stable and may see a slight increase due to the incorporation of new plantations.
What will be the overall volume of this campaign compared with previous years?
In general terms, we foresee a season similar to the previous one — that is, with moderately low production due to the factors already mentioned.
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What are your expectations for the remainder of the season?
We can be cautiously optimistic about commercial results. Lower production should help, although there are still important uncertainties regarding competition: we expect moderate behaviour from Egypt in orange exports due to its growing investment in juice-processing facilities. Expectations for Morocco are similar, in its case due to irrigation limitations. Turkey will drop significantly in oranges and lemons, but will recover production in mandarins and grapefruits. Difficulties in some of its usual markets may lead Turkey to redirect its exports towards the EU. Greece remains stable, with improved service reliability in recent years.
To what extent are citrus pests affecting Anecoop’s production?
In recent years we have seen the particularly harmful emergence of South African mealybug (cotonet) and Scirtothrips aurantii. In addition, red spider mite has caused extraordinary damage due to agroclimatic conditions. In just a few years, unexpected commercial losses have occurred, increasingly affecting a production already in decline. Progressive restrictions on the use of chemical products make it difficult to reduce this damage to the desired extent; we must wait for better biological alternatives to be developed.
Does Anecoop have any promotional plans to encourage citrus consumption?
In the 2025 campaign, we are launching a campaign to promote new red-orange varieties, focusing communication mainly on the industry to showcase the availability of these varieties and our calendar. In 2026, in addition to repeating this sector-focused campaign, we will reinforce it by targeting the final consumer.
