Lemon supply shortage indicates weaker juice offer next season in Argentina

Climatic conditions for the production of lemon in the 2021 harvest in Argentina have improved in recent months. However, the estimate is still of a harvest up to 25% lower compared to the current year. Projections indicate that the volume of fruit for industrial processing should be below 1MMT, the lowest amount since 2014.

In the 2020 harvest, the reportedly volume of processed lemons was around 1.1MMT, a reduction of 20% compared to 2019. With this scenario, the lemon juice market is experiencing uncertainties in Argentina, having entire plant lines shutdown. Yet the unmarketed inventory levels are much lower if compared to the same period last season. However, volumes are said to be sufficient to meet the current demand, which is currently weakened.