Greek 2023 Valencia Season Is Expected to Commence in May

The 2023 Greek Valencia season is expected to commence in mid-May. The season is expected to be challenging as many orchard owners minimised inputs (fertilisers and crop protection) in the previous season, negatively affecting yield and quality. This can lead to small-sized fruit and a bad appearance from insect bites which is likely to deteriorate the market value of the product. In addition, at the beginning of March, a hailstorm that passed through the area hit the orchards hard, leaving 40,000MT of oranges on the ground and an unknown number of affected fruits on the trees. Due to this, farmers expect 110,000MT to enter the market, just enough to support some exports in June and cover domestic demand till August. Producer’s prices are expected to be the same as in 2022, between USD 0.60-0.70/kg, and packers/traders expect the selling EXW price to average at USD 1.10/kg throughout the season.