Month by month
Spanish oranges in February, and what is gone
By February the clementine season here has closed and the navel side of the catalogue narrows to a single name. Navel Foios reaches the end of its regional window in the first fortnight, leaving Navelina and the late navel to carry the rest of the month. February is where a programme written in November needs reading again.
The figures
| Month | February |
|---|---|
| On the tree in this area | Navel Foios, Navel Lane Late, Navelina |
| Varieties in window | 3 |
| Window that closes | Navel Foios, first half of the month |
| Closed before the month began | Clementina Clemenules, end of January |
| Weekly market observations we hold | ISO weeks 6 to 9, with the Navel series silent through all four |
What it changes on an order
Your customer ordered clementines for February
Ours are finished and no amount of enquiry changes that. The honest reply names another origin or another citrus, and the sooner it is said the more of the month is left to act on it.
You hold a navel specification written in autumn
The cultivar named on it stops being cut halfway through this month. Decide whether the specification travels to the late navel or whether it was written around the fruit that is leaving.
You track the published market for reference
There is a stretch of weeks in this month with no Navel observation at all in the Commission series. A reference check run in February can come back empty without anything being wrong.
What this note does not settle
- A window closing in the first fortnight tells you when cutting stops in the area. Fruit already picked and held can appear later, and its condition is a question for the packing station rather than the calendar.
- Nothing here describes the clementine market in other Spanish regions, whose late varieties run on a calendar of their own.
- Silent weeks in the published series mean the source reported nothing. They are not a price of zero and they are not a shortage.
Source: European Commission, fruit and vegetables market observatory
The month an autumn programme stops matching
Most citrus programmes get written in October or November, when three of our four windows are open and the choice looks permanent. February is where that document meets the calendar. The clementine has finished, the first of the two navels finishes halfway through, and what remains is a variety chosen for a different part of the season entirely.
The useful move is to read the specification again and separate the parts that were about fruit from the parts that were about a cultivar. A size band travels between varieties. An expectation about juice yield written around one navel does not travel to another on its own. Sort that out on paper before a substitution turns up on a pallet.
Empty weeks in the published series
There is a stretch of this month where the Commission publishes no Navel observation for Spain at all. A missing week means the source notified nothing, and carrying the previous figure across the gap would draw a price that nobody ever reported. The clementine line has a hole of its own a little earlier in the same month.
For a buyer that matters mainly as a warning about method. When a reference check runs on a schedule and comes back with nothing, the finding is that the series was empty. It says nothing about supply and nothing about what fruit cost that week. Look at the weeks either side before drawing a conclusion from a blank.
Talk to the grower
Tell us the variety, the sizes and the delivery week you need. You get a delivered price and what we can commit to in writing, from the person who picks the fruit.
The grower handles enquiries. Response times are still to be confirmed.