The World Citrus Organisation exchanges on consumption & market developments at Fruit Logistica

On the 7 February 2023, the World Citrus Organisation (WCO) held a meeting for members of the Organisation’s global citrus community to exchange on citrus consumption and market developments. The meeting gathered leading citrus stakeholders from across the world to analyse the citrus sector’s place in current fruit and vegetable consumption trends, as well as market evolutions in Europe and in particular Germany, the home of Fruit Logistica. The meeting was part of WCO’s commitment to provide a platform for dialogue and action for the global citrus sector.

On the eve of the 30th anniversary of Fruit Logistica, WCO members met in Berlin to exchange on citrus consumption and market developments. On the back of challenging climatic conditions across many countries for citrus, the sector, like others in fresh produce, is grappling with quickly changing consumption trends. With consumers moving into a post-COVID mindset and priority shifting to the price of a shopping basket, purchasing decisions are shifting across demographics. WCO’s meeting at Fruit Logistica featured a guest presentation by Helwig Schwartau (AMI) on market and consumption evolutions in Europe, with particular focus on Germany. This was complemented by a presentation on the latest fresh produce consumption trends by WCO Data Analyst Gil Kaufman as well as a presentation on the Organisation’s priority areas for action by WCO Policy Advisor Nicola Pisano.

Uniting citrus-producing countries and citrus stakeholders for collective action in the citrus sector, the WCO is holding meetings for members to better understand market developments and demand dynamics to best position the sector. WCO Secretary General Philippe Binard, commented, “Through the WCO the citrus sector is staying abreast of market evolutions. Thanks to the active involvement of its members from around the globe in sharing supply and demand observations and forecast data in a pre-competitive format along with informative market insights presentations at meetings, the sector is better positioning products not only on domestic markets but also further afield”. Mr Binard added that, “Citrus is still a prominent category in Europe with oranges and mandarins together as the second most popular fruits after apples with consumption at 12.43kg per capita per year. However, despite most citrus products now returning to pre-pandemic consumption levels, younger generations are showing slightly higher purchasing volumes overall. Although households are increasingly shopping according to more limited budgets, citrus is remaining a key element in fresh fruit and vegetable selection”.