What the southern hemisphere citrus season will look like

During the Annual General Meeting of the World Citrus Organization (WCO), held on April 18, preliminary expectations for the upcoming southern hemisphere citrus season were presented to citrus representatives from Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, South Africa and Uruguay.

 

The WCO projects that total citrus production will be down slightly, by 0.77%, from last year, reaching 24,338,123 tons. However, exports are anticipated to increase by 7.45% over 2023, expecting to reach 4,156,879 tons.

 

In specific details, the production of oranges will be reduced by 5.66%, totaling 15,478,167 tons, while that of mandarins and clementines will experience a significant increase of 11.58%, reaching 3,325,829 tons. For their part, lemons will show an increase of 5.69%, with a production of 3,244,857 tons, although grapefruits will experience a fall of 3.89%, remaining at 532,539 tons. Limes, on the other hand, will see a growth of 10.57%, estimated at 1,756,731 tons.

 

Despite having faced climatic difficulties such as drought, expectations for the southern hemisphere citrus season have improved recently, limiting the reduction in production to a slight decline.