These are bitter times for lemon. Bitter and plain. After years of expansion, during which nearly seven million new fruit trees and thousands of hectares of crops were added to the plantations, farmers dedicated to the production of one of Spain’s most popular citrus fruits are now going through slow times.

So much so that there are already people openly talking about a major “lemon crisis”. The result is hundreds of millions of pounds of fruit spoiling on the trees, prompting professionals to call for a “shock plan” to weather the storm.

A new crisis hitting rural Spain.

“A campaign of destruction”. This statement comes from the Small Farmers and Farmers Union (UPA), which a few days ago met with officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and even issued a statement warning about what they called the “lemon crisis”. The group uses a resonant tone: It talks of a “destructive campaign” in which hundreds of millions of kilos of unpicked lemons are wasted on branches and closed contracts at rock-bottom prices.

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So what is the reason? The UPA has few doubts. Those responsible see the problem of “oversupply” and a “saturated market” as a result of the “plantation wave” of recent years. This ‘boom’ has helped cement Spain as one of Europe’s top benchmarks for citrus production – around 65% of community production in the 2020/21 campaign came from Spanish plantations – but it has also shifted the balance between supply and demand.

“In the last five years, new plantations have been established, especially by large landowners, encouraged by price stability and the possibilities of this product in the export market,” recalls the UPA: “These plantations have now led to saturation of production.” The domestic market and exports also do not show any possibility of growth.

hectare issue. UPA is not the only one speaking out about the challenges faced by farmers. The Lemon and Grapefruit Interprofessional Association (Ailimpo) recently focused on the situation of the sector and presented data that gives insight into the extent to which production capacity has increased.

“Approximately seven million lemon trees have been planted in the last eight years, increasing the area from 38,363 hectares to 52,119 hectares, representing an increase of 36%,” explains José Antonio García, director of the professional association. Testimonials collected by Fresh Plaza. Result: In a very short time, the sector increased from 8.5 million lemon trees to almost 15 million.

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Serious yes, unexpected no. According to him, the lemon crisis is a crisis that was announced and did not surprise the industry. “Since 2018, we have been warning that an abundance of new plantations in such a short period of time could bring us an extraordinary production increase like this campaign,” he recalls.

Taking into account the fruit trees planted in the last five years, García estimates that a production of over 1,772,000 tons will be reached in the coming years; this figure “exceeds what the market can currently profitably accommodate.” This red line puts it at 1,100,000 tons.

Demand and Supply. “This is a typical situation in the agricultural sector. Overproduction occurs and there is not enough demand to absorb the 1,400,000 tonnes planned for this campaign,” García told SER. The result: a drop in prices and large quantities of winter lemon species falling on trees with no option to make a profit. The industry currently foresees an increase in the production of summer lemon varieties.

unpicked lemons. The outcome of this complex scenario and the loss of profitability was reported by the UPA a week ago, warning that 400 million kilos of lemons remained on the branches. It’s not worth collecting these.

“Lemons are paid at 3 cents per kilo. Therefore, it is not worth selling it, because hiring workers, packaging and transporting the product is an expense…”, he explains Almeria Newspaper Juan Alcaraz, who has devoted himself to its cultivation for more than twenty years. If you’re considering removing lemons from the trees come spring—even though you know the fruit will be thrown away—it’s because not doing so could harm the next harvest.

Pay attention to prices. The industry is also looking closely at prices. In the same statement in which it warned of the “serious crisis” experienced by lemon, UPA emphasized the importance of the Food Information and Control Authority (AICA) “strengthening oversight” to “prevent contracts from being signed below production costs”. “. The organization puts the latter at around 0.25 euros per kilo and guarantees that contracts will be closed for only 0.08 euros/kg.

The COAG Price Index at Origin and Destination (IPOD) also shows a deep gap between values ​​at origin and destination. According to the balance of March, the first indicator of the origin price of lemon was 0.13€/kg; the second (price at destination) was 1.89. Therefore, the percentage difference is 1.354%, the largest calculated by the organization, well above the difference between oranges (720%), lettuce (505%) or cabbage (490%).

The industry warns. Prices are not the only thing that the industry follows closely. The UPA warns of “irregular practices” when marking spoilage of fruits that cannot be sold because they do not meet the required conditions; and there is an urgent need for “more border controls on imports, mainly from South Africa and Argentina.”

“Producers are also expressing concern about the development of exports from Morocco and Egypt, which compete with Spanish production at certain times of the year and whose phytosanitary rigor has ‘justified doubts’,” he adds. in the organization’s April statement.

What about “oversupply”? UPA advocates enabling a “standard extension” that would allow the product to be eliminated “in a fair manner among all manufacturers.” “Without this measure, it will be the small producers who will have to withdraw the product,” warns sector manager Antonio Moreno. Another of his ideas is to change OP regulations to not encourage more planting.

Image | to Perry (Unsplash)

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