Competitiveness of Spanish orange sector in the Mediterranean area

R. Ben Amor, M.D. de Miguel Gomez
The agricultural matter has always played an important role in holding back the Mediterranean integration process due to the strong complementarity of the agricultures of the coastal countries, which share excellent products including citrus fruits in general and orange fruit, in particular. This research offers some economic information about the competitiveness of the Spanish oranges fruit sector in the Mediterranean region. Spain is the sixth-largest citrus and oranges producer in the world. In addition, Spain is the largest producer of citrus for fresh consumption. Oranges represent 45% of the total Spanish production of 2016, followed by tangerines, lemons, and grapefruit (less than 1%). In Spain, orange fruit cultivation and production are of clear strategic importance in terms of economic, social and environmental development is mainly located in four regions: Catalonia, the Comunidad Valenciana, Murcia, and Andalusia. However, the globalization of markets has had a huge impact on the traditional concept of the comparative advantage enjoyed by Spain in orange production and exports, highlighting the necessary determinants for competitiveness in the international scenario. A clear dualism emerges among the coastal countries: on the one hand, the North-African and the Near-East countries -extra-EU members- show a dynamic and competitive citrus in general and oranges fruit in particular production mainly thanks to the implementation of effective government policies consistent with the aim to increase the competitiveness of the sector. In fact, this analysis of the competitive advantage of the Spanish orange sector in the Mediterranean over the last 20 years highlight on the whole a positive trend of the orange fruits sector in the Mediterranean countries which, although characterized by an adequate productive structure, suffer in some cases from competitiveness limits. Spain is still the main exporters of Oranges to the EU puts Spain ahead of traditional competitors.
Ben Amor, R. and de Miguel Gomez, M.D. (2020). Competitiveness of Spanish orange sector in the Mediterranean area. Acta Hortic. 1292, 23-30
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1292.3
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1292.3
Citrus, competitiveness index, exports-imports, Mediterranean region, Spain
English

Acta Horticulturae