LThe Isle of Beauty has health benefits. And she intends to trumpet it. Clementines, pomelos, lemons, oranges, the medley of citrus fruits has happily acclimatized there. An explosion of vitamins C. C like Corsica.
This specificity was almost eradicated. “When Spain entered the common market, the steamroller of competition threatened to crush the Corsican sector”, explains Eric Imbert, from the Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD). Tempted for a time to uproot the orchards, the Corsicans chose to respond. They decided to segment their production to stand out. The entry key is none other than the protected geographical indication (PGI).
The pomelo won it in 2014, seven years after the clementine. “Today, 60 producers operate 220 hectares of orchards, half of which are organic, for an annual production of between 4,500 and 5,000 tonnes of grapefruit”, underlines Jean-Paul Mancel, president of the Association for the promotion and defense of the Corsican clementine but also of other citrus fruits. Based in Valle-di-Campoloro (Upper Corsica), he cultivates 1 hectare of grapefruit alongside his 15 hectares of clementines.
A juicy shooting window
The Corsican grapefruit slips skilfully onto the stalls between March and June. It leaps into the gap left between the winter wave of yellow fruits with pink flesh coming from Mediterranean countries, such as Spain or Israel, and the summer wave arriving from South Africa, Mexico or the United States. United. A juicy shooting window for this citrus fruit. “Producers receive 60 to 70 cents per kilo and the grapefruit costs 1 euro each on the stall”, specifies Mr. Mancel. Pomelo, the pink gold of Corsica.
On world markets, the price of grapefruit is also high. “The price of a 15 kilo parcel has increased from 10 to 15 euros”, specifies Mr. Imbert. However, he emphasizes that this revaluation hides a less rosy reality. “The global grapefruit market has collapsed, going from a trade volume of 800,000 tonnes in 2015 to 530,000 tonnes in 2023.” To understand this air gap, we must turn to Florida, an ideal land for this tropical fruit. The attack of the yellow dragon, a disease which invaded its orchards around twenty years ago, has darkened the picture. Florida’s grapefruit production has dried up, falling from 1.5 million to 100,000 tonnes, according to CIRAD. From now on, the world number one position is shared between Mexico and South Africa with 400,000 tonnes each. At the same time, consumption has declined. Particularly in the United States, where the risk of an interaction between certain medications and pomelo juice has been highlighted.
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