Egypt floods Europe with oranges and puts the Castellón sector in check

2023-07-16 12:05:13

Citriculture in Castellón has many problems and one of the most important comes from abroad. And contrary to what one might think, the greatest danger is not in South Africa. The real competition comes from Egypta country that in very few years has skyrocketed its shipments of oranges to Europa and that seriously threatens to corner the Spanish fruit, until now the queen of supermarkets. The motives? A productive schedule and export that coincides with the Spanish, a crop that in a few years will multiply and some costs labor costs up to ten times lower.

Egypt begins to eat the orange made in Castellón and in the coming years its piece of cake will be even bigger. And who says so is the Citrus Management Committee (CGC), the entity that brings together private companies, business groups and producer organizations and to which, among others, the Association of Fruit Exporters of Castellón (Asociex) belongs. This body has produced a report that clearly reflects the potential of the Nile country and the role it can play in the world citrus trade: dOf the 23.9 million trees that it has planted in its arid geography, only 13.9 million are in production, while another 10 million will do so in the coming years.

In a very short time the Egyptian citrus harvest will skyrocket (oranges represent 80% of its production and the Navel and Valencia varieties top the ranking) and, in fact, this campaign has already broken all records. While in Castellón the 2022-2023 season will go down in history as one of the seasons with the least production, in the country of the pharaohs it has increased by 20%, up to 3.6 million tons.

If Egypt is going like a rocket in citrus production, the same thing is happening in exports. Between January and June of this year (shipments from this country are mainly concentrated in this period), the EU has imported 425,275 tons of Egyptian oranges, 77% more than the previous year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture. And one more note: shipments to European countries have gone from 117,242 tons in the 2013-2014 campaign to 425,000 now.

South Africa grows, but less

The figures for South Africa, on the other hand, are much more modest. Between September 2022 and June this year, this country exported 298,551 tons of oranges to the EU, 12% more than the previous season. SSouth Africa, however, also sent 83,987 tons of mandarins, a product that is totally minor in Egypt (it barely sold 22,000 tons).

All the indicators say that Egypt is destined to become the king of orange sooner rather than later and, furthermore, in the European market it does not play the same cards as Spanish producers. And the proof is that during the first half of the year has accumulated 25 alerts in oranges due to excess pesticide residues or for using products that are prohibited in the EU. A situation that has already had consequences and from now on Europe will increase the percentage of controls and will go from 20% to 30%.

«Put an end to the double standard that the EU applies in its pesticide policy» It is precisely one of the objectives of the CGC chaired by Inmaculada Sanfeliu and who at the end of the month will also assume the presidency of the interprofessional Intercitrus.

Prices without competition

Citrus prices in Egypt are much lower than in Spain. A kilo of navel in a supermarket in that country costs 0.26 euros. Egyptian oranges are placed in European ports at around €0.55/k, according to Unió.