Citrus
What are the expectations for this season?
Argentina’s lemon harvest has kicked off Argentina is ranked as the world’s largest lemon producer with the state of Tucumán in the north growing almost 90 percent of the country’s production. Lemon harvest started the first week of April and is expected to run until August. Favourable weather conditions throughout the growing season allowed the harvest season to start on time. “The groves show healthy trees and based on the fruit set, we are expecting a high-quality crop,” says Mariano Sangronis, Commercial Manager and Head of Citromax’s Fresh Division. “We are anxious to see the first lemons make their way through the packing house in the coming weeks.” Last year, the company produced more than 18,000 pallets of fresh lemons.
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n an effort to continue increasing quali- Valley and Coastal Region are still going. ty standards and stay on the path of effi- “I expect their season will run until late ciency and cost savings, Citromax instal- June,” said Sangronis. “Argentinian proled new and advanced sorting technology duction complements the United States in its Tucumán packing house two years summer gap and provides consumers with ago. The optical Sunsort® lemon-grading a fresh product during California’s off-seatechnology equipment from Sunkist ana- son.” According to Ailimpo, a branch orgalyses for quality attributes like defects, nization for lemon production in Spain, colour, size, and shape. “We continue to production in the Southern European invest in technology as it is a key factor in country is down 20 to 25 percent from last offering premium product.” season. The Verna lemon is most heavily impacted by the loss in production, which OTHER GROWING REGIONS is expected to result in an earlier finish of At the moment, the northern hemisphere Spain’s season. “We are hopeful the tranis still harvesting lemons with stable sition between the northern hemisphere production volumes. In the United States, and the southern hemisphere will take districts D1 and D2 in California’s Central place in mid-May for Europe.”
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AGF Primeur 4 • 2022
EXPORT GROWTH Citromax has been able to expand its lemon exports worldwide in recent years. Some of the main regions of destination include North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The company’s presence in China and Southeast Asia has significantly expanded since the Chinese market opened up for lemons from Argentina in 2020. “Last year, we were one of the most important suppliers of lemons from Argentina to China,” mentioned Sangronis. “We’ve been able to strengthen our presence in retail as well as food service in the country,” he added. In Europe, the company keeps consolidating partnerships with its customers. “We’ve been very flexible in trying to meet our customers’ needs to support the supply chain, resulting in an increase in demand from Europe.” However, this year, exports will be impacted by the current situation in Russia and the Ukraine. The United States is another significant market for lemons from Argentina. In May 2017, the country was granted access to the United States for the first time in almost two decades. “Since then, we have been able to consistently grow the retail, foodservice, and wholesale markets.” This year, Citromax hopes to further increase its exports to North America by expanding its product portfolio with organic fresh lemons. “We are the
