Early harvesting of mandarins in Huelva is already under way: first Clemenrubi mandarins and now Oronul. New varieties are constantly being sought, along with production in early and late periods for easing the supply bottleneck.
Many farmers specialised in cut flowers years ago. Now, however, they are channelling their efforts into mandarins, so many in fact that Huelva today is surrounded by orange blossom. As a matter of fact, it is Spain¿s leading producer of mandarins, accounting for 196,000 tonnes. Although Spain is the leading exporter of fresh mandarins, it cannot compete on price with other countries, so it now concentrates on producing environmentally-friendly mandarins, a market that in Spain has grown by 75% in the last three years. In Huelva the area of cultivation is constantly increasing. It has already reached 1,500 hectares.