Citrus crops
Tradition, quality, and sustainability
The products of the land and the sea have been the main source of wealth in the province of Castellón for several centuries. Agriculture has evolved enormously in recent decades. This has been a process involving the incorporation of a high degree of technification in all areas, together with the simultaneous loss of cultivated land due to a fall in profitability for small producers.
Area under organic farming
33,298 ha (2023)
Growth of 286%
in the last 10 years
The boom in organic farming has been constant in Castellón, with the Baix Maestrat as the region with the largest accredited surface area in the Valencian Community thanks to its olive and nut tree groves, which is another piece of the provincial jigsaw puzzle.
However, the potential of the agri-food sector in Castellón today lies in large, fully modernised companies with a global perspective, capable of competing on a large scale, with strong financial resources and both domestic (in the supermarket channel) and international presence.
The main crops grown in the last four decades:
Almond tree
Olive tree
Mandarin tree
Orange tree
Vineyard
The citrus sector in Castellón
Citriculture in Castellón accounts for one-fifth of the market share of oranges in the USA, where it made its way in the 1980s. Furthermore, the Port of Castellón is the departure point for 80% of the oranges sent to the country, which is particularly attractive because of the average purchasing power of its consumers.
This is the updated response to the Port’s inaugural vocation, which, in fact, arose from the companies’ demand to satisfy the need to export citrus fruits, an emerging economic driving force at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. Today, products from the citrus sector are high on the list of top Spanish agri-foodstuffs exports, only behind pork in 2020 and ahead of national olive oil and wine.
As a matter of fact, the port infrastructure has handled more than 50,000 tonnes of fruit, vegetables, and legumes in many of the last several years. Port-Castelló’s advantages include a specific fruit and vegetable terminal with a large cooling plant, which complies with the most demanding protocols for transporting fruits and vegetables.
Main Entities
