According to the latest report on Enhanced Monitoring of EU Citrus Imports published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food (MAPA), in the first 3 months of 2022, the European Union imported 348,926 tons of citrus fruits, i.e. 12.1% less than in the same period last year and 11.8% less than the average of the previous five years.
The report confirms that, with the exception of lemon, which shows a significant increase, imports of all citrus fruits have fallen. Compared to the average, orange imports have decreased by 32% (-47,500 t) and grapefruit imports by 35% (-24,200 t). Meanwhile, mandarin imports increased by 8% (+11,600 t) and lemon imports by 47% (+13,300 t).
Citrus imports between January and March 2022 were led by imports of small citrus fruits (162,549 tons, -6.1% compared to the same period last year), followed by oranges (99,708 tons, -28.0%), grapefruits (45,015 tons, -24.2%) and, finally, lemons (41,653, +61.3%).
Turkey was the European Union's main non-EU supplier of citrus fruits during the first quarter of 2022 with 112,030 tons (25.9% more than in the same period of 2021), surpassing Egypt, which had been the leading supplier in the same period in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
Egypt was the second third country with the most citrus exports to the Community market (86,070 tons, -36.6%), followed by Morocco (75,482 tons, -1.2%), Israel (47,494 tons, -8.6%) and China (11,065, -54.5%).
Imports from September to March
The EU imported 1.067 million tons of citrus fruits between September 2021 and March 2022, i.e. +1.1% more than in the same period of the 2020/21 season.
In this period, South Africa was the EU's leading third-country supplier with 359,162 tons (+23.0% over the same period of the previous season), followed by Turkey (215,764 tons, +1.4%), Morocco (128,478 tons, 14.0%), Egypt (90,060 tons, -37.1%), Argentina (61,089 tons, +1,078.0%), Israel (57,082 tons, -10.4%), China (51,465 tons, -54.4%), and Zimbabwe (26,380 tons, +30.0%).
You can read the full report here.
Source: agrodiario.com