52% of world citrus exports from the Mediterranean
Full range of citrus fruit exhibited in the Qatari stores like Village Market
158.5 million tons of world production
The WCO’s new publication provides detailed market insights on citrus sector developments, crucial for business decisions along the supply chain.
WCO Northern Hemisphere Co-Chair José Antonio Garcia Fernandez (Ailimpo) said: “This report is a tool that the WCO offers to the citrus community around the world and is the result of our commitment to transparency and information provision. I am convinced that citrus growers, traders and processors will find in this fantastic report produced by our CIRAD partners, a key element to improve their decision making, generating added value to the supply chain”. WCO Southern Hemisphere Co-Chair Justin Chadwick (Citrus Growers’ Association) explained, “The WCO aims to benefit members through provision of important citrus sector statistics and information. Apart from highlighting the nutritional and health aspects of citrus and looking at ways of promoting citrus consumption around the world, the WCO decided to make the Citrus World Statistics publication for citrus stakeholders. We urge country citrus representative organisations and stakeholder companies to join the WCO to enable the Secretariat to continue to provide these benefits to the global citrus community.”
51% of world production from Asia, 52% of world exports from the Mediterranean
Among the many statistics of note for citrus business, the publication reveals that world citrus production stands at 158.5 million tons, with China, Brazil, India and Mexico the top producing countries in 2021. However, while 51% of citrus is produced in Asia, 52% of citrus exports (7.2 million tons) originates from the Mediterranean region with the lion’s share coming from Spain, South Africa, Turkey and Egypt. The publication illustrates that imports are relatively stable, with the main import markets still dominated by the EU, the UK, Norway and Switzerland (42%). This trend is reflected in citrus consumption, with Scandinavia (14.5kg), followed by France (13.5kg) and Germany (12.8kg) showing the highest citrus consumption per capita in 2021.
This latest publication builds on the Organisation’s existing citrus forecasting activities. On a biannual basis ahead of the Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere seasons, the WCO undertakes citrus forecasting to facilitate WCO members’ understanding of current global citrus market developments to better position the citrus category on domestic markets and further afield. The latest WCO Northern Hemisphere forecast will be presented at the Global Citrus Congress taking place virtually on 30 November 2022, which is an open event free of charge. Market analysis of the forecast will be presented by CIRAD.
