The Citrus Committee of the Chilean Association of Fruit Exporters and Producers (ASOEX) recently published a summary of the 2023 Chilean citrus season. The report shows a 48% increase in exports from the previous year and a 16% increase over the average exports of the last three years.
ASOEX reports a total of 395,889 metric tons (MT) of citrus exports in the 2023 season. This includes:
- 61,490 MT of clementines (15.5% of the total)
- 172,825 MT of mandarins (43.7% of the total)
- 93,948 MT of oranges (23.7% of the total)
- 67,627 of lemons (17.1% of the total)
The U.S. remained Chile’s main citrus export destination, importing 88.2% of Chile’s citrus production – 98.4% of clementines, 93.6% of mandarins, 90.9% of oranges, and 61.6% of lemons.
While it is too early to forecast how a drought, cold spring and El Niño will impact the Chilean citrus harvest volumes and export in 2024, early observations point to a lower than usual number of blossoms per mandarin tree.
