report Juillet 2009 ( report - 22-09-2009 )

Palermo, Luglio 2009 ( report - 31-08-2009 )

Dear Sirs,

The Sicilian lemon crop is nearly finished and we would like to take this
opportunity to give you a brief update on the situation this year.

As you will surely well remember, the 2007-2008 crop was very bad all over
the world.  Very strong demand and difficulties fulfilling customer
requestes and contracts put a significant amount of stress on the global
lemon  market. Consequently the price of lemons for processing opened  in
Sicily at a very high level at the beginning of the current crop at  around

0.26  €/kg  ex  factory  and, despite the global economic crisis dogging  a

number  of markets, lemon juice survived the depression finding customers
for high-priced supplies.

This season lemons  have  been  very  expensive throughout the duration of
the crop and growers' associations forecasted that, even in 2010, prices
for
raw material will be high. The final average  price  for  the 2008-2009
crop  will  be  then  in  range of €0.22-0.23/kg  kg ex factory. This
would  mean  about  50% more than the 2007-2008 crop when  prices were
already double those which were considered ‘’normal’’ during recent
years !!

It  is the general opinion that high prices for industrial lemons in Sicily

are partially due also to the extremely scarce blood orange crop. Many
companies that  historically only processed oranges, have also processed
lemon this year in order to cover their costs. It would have been
uneconomic
to keep plants closed and they were keen to take advantage of the active
lemon  market. This has prompted  tough competition for supplies keeping
prices high.

The harvest in Sicily has been delayed, first by the weather (heavy rain)
and  then by the growers' desire to receive higher returns for their fruit.

Lemons have been left longer than usual on the trees to swell the fruit and

add weight.Volume-wise the situation is just below what can be defined as
normal and quality has been reported generally to be pretty good.

The lemon  oil market opened at 40 - 38.00€/kg but the largest buyers
preferred to wait using their stock as long as possible and the global
recession made demand  weaker.  As a matter of fact, nowadays genuine lemon

oil quotations are, as you know, well below above mentioned prices (even
less for large contracts and prompt shipments). A combination of current
high fruit prices and low returns from oil sales resulted in high
quotations
for juice and processors have had to cope with an uncomfortable situation.

Despite a slight reduction in lemon prices from April onwards, the quantity

available to be processed has been progressively reduced too and the demand

for lemon oil has remained weak; both factors have meant that it has not
been possible for processors to reduce lemon juice quotations.

No carry-over stock  for juice is reported and possibly what has been
processed will hardly be sufficient to cover existing contracts.


                                                   Agrumaria Corleone SpA

info limone aprile 2008 ( report - 27-06-2008 )

Market ReportLemons April 2008 Our previous market report in October of last year included information about the 2007/2008 lemon crop which was expected to be smaller than the previous crop as a result of adverse weather conditions which caused damage to the trees during the flowering period. Unfortunately the situation has subsequently become much more serious than forecast at that time. This year in Sicily there have been unprecedented levels of demand from all parts of Europe for lemons for the fresh fruit market due in part to serious damage to the lemon crops in Spain and Greece. This in turn has led to a significant reduction in the quantity of fruit available for processing into juice, essential oil and peel. The Growers’ Associations who have signed contracts with processors this season have so far received only limited quantities of lemons from their associated co-operatives and as a result are now considerably behind the delivery schedules originally agreed with the processors. In an attempt to receive more fruit for processing and enable them to cover their existing sales commitments, processors are currently paying more than twice the price paid last season for lemons resulting in significant losses. Despite this fact the quantity of lemons processed so far this season is less than 40% of the quantity actually contracted. The two primary industry associations ASSITRAPA and ANICAV have jointly condemned the current crisis and urged the Growers’ Associations to respect their sales contracts with the processors. The current situation, unprecedented in the past 15 years, is extremely serious and very difficult to manage. As result of the crisis there is now a significant risk of delays in delivery and a very real possibility that not all sales commitments can be met in full.

LIMONE ( report - 10-12-2007 )

ARANCE ( report - 10-12-2007 )

MANDARINO ( report - 10-12-2007 )