Prices of oranges in Spain have jumped by 30% thanks to a production slump caused by a harsh winter, and which is set to cause a rise in European Union imports.

Grove owners in the European Union's biggest citrus producing nation are receiving E0.24 per kilogramme of oranges and E0.33 per kilogrammes of mandarins, although the retail prices – some six times higher – have yet to respond.

The jump follows an output drop in 2009-10 expected to reach 22% led by Valencia, which is alone responsible for around one-quarter of the EU's orange crop.

'Unfavourable conditions'

"The season has been abnormally short, due to last winter's unfavourable weather conditions - very cold, wet and windy," a report from US Department of Agriculture staff across Europe said.

"Higher humidity also influenced the crop negatively, causing losses both in the field and in the warehouses."

The shortfall will be in part offset by a better crop in Italy, which has rebounded from its own citrus annus horribilis in 2008-09, blamed on frost, and which left the country a net importer of oranges for the first time in living memory.

"Italy is once again a net exporter of oranges," the briefing said.

Nonetheless, the EU will see its overall orange imports rise by 11% to 940,000 tonnes, a potential boost for markets such as South Africa, Egypt and Morocco on which it turns in the main for foreign supplies.

Juice imports squeezed 

However, imports of orange juice, for which Europe relies for the great bulk of its supplies, will fall, thanks to a drop in demand blamed on tighter consumer purse strings.

"While orange juice is the most popular juice within the EU, it competes with other non-alcoholic drinks and juices made from other fruits," the report added.

The EU is by far the world's biggest orange juice importer, ahead of Canada and the US, and buys the great majority of its supplies from Brazil.

Switzerland, which processes oranges grown elsewhere, is the second ranked exporter to the EU.