MINUTES FOR FRESHFEL/SHAFFE CITRUS MEETING OF 2 nd FEBRUARY 2010

Introduction: 

• The meeting was opened by José Antonio Garcia, the Chairman of the Freshfel Citrus Working Group, who thanked participants for their attendance and for their commitment to the Citrus Working Group which through cooperation is able to give a global perspective on the citrus sector. Mrs Marta Bentancur, Chairwoman of SHAFFE also welcomed the participants and will co-chair the meeting. 
• Participants at the meeting were asked to present themselves. Representatives were present from northern hemisphere producing countries Spain, Italy, Morocco, Turkey, Israel, USA and China, with contributions for the meeting also received from Greece and Cyprus. Southern hemisphere representatives were present from Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Peru. There were also market representatives from UK, Italy, Scandinavia, Germany, France, Spain, Russia, USA and China.
• The agenda for the meeting was confirmed with no comments from those present.
• An antitrust declaration was made to remind those present that the discussion will by no means involve matters or topics which could influence market prices or volumes and that the exchange of data and information is strictly limited to matters which do not interfere with competition or anti-trust legislation.
• A summary of the situation for the previous year’s citrus teleconferences was made by Philippe Binard, explaining the key timing for the teleconferences and the important seasonal information which was compiled at each meeting. 
• A brief overview of consumption trends in the EU was also made, which showed that despite consumption remaining fairly constant from year-to-year across the EU, large discrepancies exist between Member States.
• Detailed information of the data presented at the meeting is included in a PowerPoint presentation used to structure the discussion. The PowerPoint is to be found in annex to these minutes. Below are some supplementary comments. 
  

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