This year, lemons have cost almost twice as much as last year. The fluctuation in the prices of these citrus fruits, rich in vitamin C and detoxifying properties, is one of the most striking examples of the upheavals of the world agri-food market which Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has provoked. The demand for lemons has exploded, but production cannot satisfy it.

Production, demand and prices

It happens all over the world and also in Italy. In Sicily, as Coldiretti points out, requests have increased by 30%; in Campania, despite the increased demand for Amalfi IGP lemons, production decreased by 50%, while the price has almost doubled and fluctuates between 1.20 and 1.50 euros per kilo compared to around 0.60 in the same period last year; in Calabria, in the upper Ionian Sea, prices increased between 10 and 15%.

The reason? According to Coldiretti, the increase in global demand for lemon as a disinfectant natural. In Turkey, where citrus is used to produce alcohol-based disinfectants, lemon exports are subjected to a preventive check, just as it happens for the masks, for the lung fans and for the rest of the sanitary material: the prices have soaring. Spain, the first lemon producer in the European Union, is unable to meet the demand, which has increased: production is limited for climatic reasons and prices have rocketed. Italy is the second largest European producer after Spain: in 2019 about 3.8 million quintals were obtained, down 14%. But production is not enough to satisfy national consumption, with 1.2 million quintals of imports and 0.48 million quintals of exports in 2019.

It happens because, in recent decades, Italy has lost more than half of the cultivated area, mainly because, as Coldiretti explains, "of the low compensation paid to farmers below production costs". but yet Italian lemons are the best quality ones and they are found all year round: the "primofiore" between the end of September and the end of November, the "winter" between December and April, the "bianchetti" between April and May and the "verdelli" between June and the beginning of September. And there are also six lemons with PGI community recognition: Amalfi Coast, Rocca Imperiale, Syracuse, Sorrento, Femminello del Gargano, Interdonato di Messina.