PRESS RELEASE

Following the formal adoption of the organisation’s Statutes in March 2020, the WCO Secretariat just collected and released the first crop production and export forecasts for the forthcoming Southern Hemisphere citrus season 2020. The preliminary forecast is collected from industry associations in Argentina, Australia, Chile, Peru, South Africa, and Uruguay. The Secretariat is working closely with Brazil and Bolivia to include their data as well into the forecast very shortly.

EU apple prices during the ongoing campaign are significantly above the average for the past five years, due to the small crop. According to Wapa/Prognosfruit data, this campaign’s crop is down 20% from the preceding year and 11% below the 5-year average.  Compared to the challenging 2018/19 campaign (excess of supply in some Member States, especially in Poland), 2019/20 has seen a great recovery in the sector. EU apple stocks on 1st December 2019 were at their lowest level since 2012.

The world’s total orange production for the 2019/20 season is projected to drop 11% to 47.5 million tons due to unfavourable growing conditions in Brazil, Egypt, the European Union, and Morocco, according to USDA data.  As a result, consumption, fruit for processing, and fresh exports are also expected to plummet.

The 2019/20 global citrus crop is down for all categories, except grapefruit. Orange production is down 11% to 47.5 million, due to weather-afflicted seasons in Brazil, the EU, Morocco and Egypt, with small increases in China and the US unable to compensate for these losses.

The world’s apple markets in 2018 look rather to different to those of 2017 as they adapt to trade disputes and weather-related booms and shortages.

Credit: Calvados Tourisme (calvados-tourisme.com)

The EU’s 2018/19 citrus production is estimated at 11.6 million tons, up 8% from 2017/18. The main contributor to this rise is the large Spanish crop that resulted from favourable weather conditions.  Indeed, Spain’s citrus output climbed 14.6% to reach 7.3 million tons. The quality of the crop is expected to be excellent. EU orange production is forecast at 6.5 million tons, up 4% due to increased volumes in Spain and Portugal. EU lemon production is estimated to be up 10% to 1.6 million tons, while EU grapefruit production is expected to increase by 2.8% to 110,000 tons.

The 2018-19 Spanish citrus crop has seen increases across the board, according to official data from the country’s Ministry of Agriculture. The largest increases are in satsuma (+31.3%), lemon (+21.5%), clementine (+20.5%), orange (+14.3%), tangerine hybrids (+13.9%) and grapefruit (+4.1%). Tangerine varieties were up 19.5% overall.

Preliminary estimates for Spain’s 2019 vegetable campaigns indicate an increase in volumes of endive (11.8%), and aubergine (0.4%), but a fall in fava beans (-9.1%), according to data published by the Ministry of Agriculture. As for the estimates of the 2018 harvest, there were increases recorded for cauliflower (+25.8%) and broccoli (+5.4%), but a contraction in the production of lettuce (3.2%),artichoke (-2.4%) and spinach (-2%). As for fruit trees, the estimate for the 2018 kiwi crop shows a significant increase (+23.1%), while there was a slight drop in avocado (-0.9%).

Spain’s raspberry crop is expected to be 13.1% higher this year, relative to 2015, reaching 19,000 tons, while that of strawberries is set to rise 7.9% to 342,700 tons.