The Southern Hemisphere's lemon exports are expected to fall by 0.9% to 472,696 metric tons (MT) in 2011, despite increased production in Argentina, South Africa and Australia.

An iQonsulting report has forecast Argentina's lemon exports to rise 1.09% to 270,000MT, South Africa's figures to increase by 1.1% to 146,424MT, while an Australian crop recovery should push volumes up 84.76% to 800MT.

But these increases have been unable to offset the negative effects of drought in Chile, which has led to an expected 14.72% fall to 38,972MT for the South American country, combined with a fall of 13.8% to 14,500MT for Uruguay. Peru's lemon exports are forecast to fall 6.1% to 2,000MT.

Argentina

Argentina's Eureka lemon harvest usually takes place from April through to August, but this year the harvest began around mid-May. Industry sources have attributed the late harvest to higher rains and humidity in February.

Intense rains in the main lemon-growing region of Tucumán in week 22 (Jun. 3) also set back production, while in that week exports to date were 61,400MT with Canada and Russia as the main markets.

A higher supply of Turkish and Spanish lemons to Argentina's destination markets has also led to slower sales than in previous years.

Chile

The large amount of Chile's lemon harvest was set to take place in weeks 22 (Jun. 3) and 23 (Jun. 10), focused on the Fino variety with Japan as the main destination country.

Drought-affected orchards led to lemons of smaller sizes with lower juice concentration levels, leading to a higher proportion of supply chosen for the local market and fewer for export.

Uruguay

The bulk of Uruguay's lemon harvest began in week 21 (May 27) with expectations it would continue until the end of August, with the Genova variety registering good size and color qualities.

Until week 22 (Jun. 3) Uruguay's export volumes were 614MT, representing 4.2% of the season's expected shipments.

South Africa

South Africa's expected lemon export volumes this year are within the country's usual range, although harvests in the Senwes region have been affected by hail.

Until week 22 (Jun.3) South Africa had exported 34,500MT, which is almost a quarter of total expected exports, with Russia, the Middle East and Northern Europe as the main destinations.

iQonsulting/ edited by www.freshfruitportal.com