Month by month
Spanish oranges in November, the month it starts
November is when the campaign becomes real. Navel Foios and Clemenules both open in the first fortnight, joining a Navelina window that started in late October, and four of the five plantings the grower has declared enter their picking window this month. It is also the first month with a clementine and a navel standing side by side.
The figures
| Month | November |
|---|---|
| On the tree in this area | Clementina Clemenules, Navel Foios, Navelina |
| Varieties in window | 3 |
| Windows that open | Navel Foios and Clementina Clemenules, first half of the month |
| Declared plantings entering their window | Four of five, three of Navel Foios and one of Clemenules |
| Still to come | Navel Lane Late, from the second half of January |
What it changes on an order
You need a clementine and an orange on one pallet
This is the first month the two exist together here, and they are different species with different size scales under the same standard. Write both lines of the order in their own scale or the receiving team will read one of them wrong.
You are placing a first order with a new grower
A window that has just opened has the least history behind it. Ask what has already come off the tree rather than what is due, because in the opening fortnight those two answers are far apart.
Your customer wants fruit for the Christmas weeks
The fruit that fills December is picked from windows that open now, and the packing decisions behind it are taken now as well. Bring the format and the size to the conversation this month instead of the next one.
What this note does not settle
- Four plantings entering their window is a statement about the calendar. The quantity behind them is the grower's own estimate and it is published on the availability page as such.
- The clementine here is Citrus x clementina, so the juice content minimum that the marketing standard sets for the navel group does not apply to it in the same way.
- No weekly market observation exists for November in the series this site publishes, so nothing here describes what the month costs.
Source: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429, Annex I
Two species on one order, and the scale that trips it
A clementine and an orange both start being cut here in the first fortnight, and that coincidence is the reason this month earns its own note. They belong to different species. The size scale the marketing standard applies to clementines is not the scale it applies to oranges, so one figure written on two lines of the same order is describing two different fruits.
The consequence lands on the receiving dock, where a ring gauge and a sample settle what an email left vague. Write each line with its own size code and say which scale it refers to. It costs a sentence in the order and it removes the misunderstanding that turns up more than any other in the early weeks of a campaign.
The opening fortnight carries the least history
A window that opened last week has put very little fruit through a grader, and the truthful answer about what exists is shorter than a buyer wants it to be. Ask what has already come off the tree and already been graded, rather than what the calendar says is due. At the start of a campaign those two answers sit further apart than at any other moment in it.
This is also when the decisions that shape December get taken. Format, size and presentation have to be settled before the fruit is running hard, and a buyer who waits for the Christmas weeks to name them is asking a packing station to change what it is already doing. Name them now. The month after this one becomes a great deal easier.
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.