Just under 6 million tons of citrus are expected in Spain

The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture estimates the citrus yield for the coming season – which actually started on September 1 – at 5.968 million tons. This is a lot less than previous seasons: 15.6% less than last season and 12.8% less than the five-year average (-1.1 million tons). It has been since 2012/13 that the harvest was so small. According to the latest available data, the acreage had increased by 1.7% in 2021 to a total of 219,096 hectares. This year's extreme weather conditions have contributed to this low yield, in particular excessive rainfall during flowering and fruit set and extremely high temperatures in summer. In addition, there were restrictions on irrigation in some regions. Orange takes the hardest hit: -19.9% compared to last season and -15.7% compared to the five-year average. The yield of mandarins is also down (-9.8% compared to last year and -9.1% compared to the five-year average), as well as that of lemon (-12.4% and -11.3%) and grapefruit. (-13.7% and ...