Mandarin season 2022 is in progress in Georgia. Farmers started harvesting relatively late, because of the unfavorable weather. This year’s mandarin harvest is smaller than last year’s, with the forecast of 40 000 – 45 000 tonnes. Along with the reduced harvest, exporters point out increased prices.
Source: EastFruit
According to Jimsher Diasamidze, the representative of the Ministry of Rural Affairs of Adjara, approximately 30-40% of the mandarins in the region have been harvested, and the harvesting will continue for the next 20 days. The price of early mandarins, harvested in the first half of November, was up to 2 GEL/kg ($0.74), and the wholesale price of Unshiu mandarin, which is harvested now, ranges from 0.7-1 GEL/kg ($0.26-$0.37). The price of farmers has increased by about 0.1 GEL ($0.04) compared to last year.
Farmers attribute low harvest mostly to the unfavorable climate in Spring-Summer of 2022 – rainy weather in spring and a long drought in summer affected the harvest, they say.
A citrus coordination headquarters has been operating in Adjara since November 25, which helps farmers’ logistics and sales of citrus. According to the representative of the headquarters, Irakli Oniani, up to 1 000 tonnes of mandarins have been exported to the traditional export markets so far. The purchase prices for export mandarins range from 0.8-1 GEL/kg ($0.3-$0.37).
Ramaz Akhvledian, the founder of the mandarin exporting company Ciro LLC, in conversation with EastFruit, evaluated this year’s season from the exporters’ perspective, saying that he goes to the orchards to collect mandarins, as, so far only one farmer has brought the harvest in the company’s collecting center. The exporter also assessed the demand for Georgian mandarins on the Russian market, saying he is not contacted by as many clients from Russia, as last year, although the harvest is not big this year either. Regarding crop quality, caliber and black spots on the rinds of fruit remain an issue.
According to official data, last year Georgia harvested 57 200 tonnes of mandarins.
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