Surge in EU imports of Egyptian citrus

EU citrus imports from January to 2023 were up by 21% year-on-year to 566,897 tons, driven by an 83% surge in shipments from Egypt. Oranges imports from Egypt were up by a massive 189% in the first 6 months of the year. 

Overall, EU orange imports between September 2022 and June 2023 totalled 816,370 tons, a 40% rise from the 2020-21 season. Oranges accounted for 51% of all citrus imports, while small citrus fruit comprised 27% of the total, followed by lemons (11%) and grapefruit (10%).

However, South Africa remains the leading citrus supplier to the EU, with 31% of the volume. During the 2022-23 campaign, it increased its import volumes by 28%.

Egypt saw an overall volume increase of 47%, followed by Zimbabwe with 29% and Israel with 9%. But some source countries registered a decrease in volume, including China (-36%), Argentina (-30%), Morocco (-23%), and Turkey (-20%).

Lemons and grapefruit did not fare as well as oranges, with lemon imports falling 23% to 234,547 tons, and grapefruit imports dropping 12% to 171,465 tons.