(Photo by Jake Price, University of Georgia Extension)
Korea’s production of tangerines and mandarins — virtually the country’s only commercial citrus — is forecast at 570,000 metric tons by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS). That’s a 2.1% decline from the previous year’s 582,000 MT. The decline is driven by lower yield for open-field tangerines, decreased fruit set per tree and a slight reduction in planted area.
Open-field citrus production in Korea’s primary citrus-growing area of Jeju Island is projected at 413,000 MT for 2023–24, down about 3.7% from the previous year’s 429,000 MT.
PLANTING PROJECTIONS
Korea’s total citrus planted area is projected at 19,720 hectares in 2023–24, down 0.75% from the previous year. The decline is attributed to various factors. They include the aging of citrus farmers, the continuous development of property by the tourism industry in Jeju Island and the gradual shift from open-field citrus cultivation to more profitable protected facility cultivation of late-maturing citrus varieties and other fruit. Greenhouse citrus cultivation, including late-maturing varieties, is expected to grow by 2.7% year-on-year to 5,613 hectares.
PROCESSING TO PLUMMET
USDA FAS expects the amount of citrus purchased for processing into concentrate in 2023–24 to be around 55,000 MT, a 16.7% (11,000 MT) decrease from the previous year.
Although there is no domestic production of frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) in Korea, the country’s beverage industry frequently combines imported FCOJ with domestically produced tangerine juice concentrate to produce blended citrus beverages.
EXPORT UPDATE
Korea’s mandarin/tangerine exports are expected to reach around 3,400 MT in 2023–24, similar to the previous year. The main export destinations are Russia and Canada.
In the 2022–23 season, Korea’s citrus exports decreased by 50%, mainly due to a 69% reduction in exports to Russia. This is largely because of the war between Ukraine and Russia.
See the full USDA FAS report on Korean citrus here.
Source: USDA FAS
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