Lemon oil from all corners of the world is one of Ultra’s core products.
Lemon has a place in many culinary uses from soft drinks and cocktails to marmalade. However, it can also be used and found in household cleaning products since it can disinfect, deodorise, remove grease and dissolve wax and grime to name but a few uses.
Lemon is also used in aromatherapy to enhance moods and can be used for its anti-bacterial properties in other medicinal applications. In fragrances it gives a fresh uplifting and zesty note to any perfume, as it is highly volatile.
Interestingly the three top producers of fresh lemons in the world are not the countries we would associate with oil production; the top 3 being China, India and Mexico, which account for over 40% of the world production. The Spanish are the largest within Europe producing around 900,000 MT - 1,000,000 MT of fresh lemons in any given good year.
There are two seasons in Spain giving them around 9 months of harvesting during the year. The 'Fino' and 'Primafiori' type runs from November to March and the 'Verna' type from April to July. Depending on the year 20-25% of all lemons are further processed.
Today we associate lemon oil production with Italy and Spain (Europe), Argentina, Bolivia and USA (Americas) and even South Africa who are small producers on the global scale.
Spain is Europe's largest producer of fresh lemons and the largest producer of oil.
Lemon oil is obtained by cold expression or steam distillation of lemon's peel.
AILIMPO’s first estimate of the Fino lemon harvest for the next 2023/2024 crop season forecasts a production in Spain of 990,000 metric tonnes (MT), which represents a significant increase of 30% compared to the production of this same variety in the campaign 2022/2023, and a return to the levels reached in the campaign 2020/2021, where the production of Fino lemon already reached 980,000 MT.
This first harvest estimate is subject to the evolution of weather conditions, water availability and the impact on the harvest volume of the entry into production of the new plantations, since the lemon surface Fino has increased by 5,671 hectares in the last 6 years, from 25,609 hectares in 2017 to the current 31,280 hectares (+22%), according to official data from MAPA (Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentacion).
Spain will continue in 2023/2024 to be the leading exporter of fresh lemon, and the second largest lemon processor in juice, essential oil and dehydrated peel worldwide.
Although the abundant rainfall that occurred last May was generally positive for the development of the crop, it was accompanied by different episodes of hail, estimating that some 1,000 hectares could have been affected by this weather phenomenon that occurred in different areas of the region of Murcia. The most significant damage has occurred in Campo de Cartagena, Alhama or Vega Media del Segura (localities of Archena and Molina de Segura).
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