The French motorways have been blocked by demonstrators delaying deliveries. In Spain, there is currently a predominance of small sizes and the rising competition from Turkey is taking a toll. 

Figures released by the South African Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) from 2016/17 paint an interesting picture of global lemon production.

As the popularity of citrus exports spikes in South Africa, many local farmers are replacing their grape vines with lemon, mandarin or lime trees in an effort to cash in on the trend.

Fantastic rain has fallen in the Eastern Cape’s Sundays River Valley, the best they’ve had since 2011, says Hannes de Waal, managing director of the Sundays River Valley Citrus Company.

Lemon supplies are currently on the rise in most countries. Lemons are an inelastic product. This means this year's demand is fairly similar to that of last year. Lemon prices have dropped significantly because of this.

The revenue of the market for concentrated lemon and lime juice worldwide amounted to $591M in 2018.

The lemon season in Spain, Italy and Turkey is ending earlier this year.

In Spain, South Africa and China, adverse weather conditions during the growing seasons have severely limited the production of lemons, with up to 40% losses in the Chinese production due to frost damage.

The re-opening of the catering sector in the US is boosting sales of lemon across the country just as the weather in Turkey has benefited the crop.

With the return of warmer weather to the Northern Hemisphere, the lemon market shows a varied picture across the global markets.

In Marketing Year (MY) 2024/25 growers in South Africa are forecast to divert more citrus volumes towards processing as elevated prices make juicing a lower-risk alternative.