Citrus fruits are the first fruit crop in international trade in terms of value. There are two clearly differentiated markets in the citrus sector: fresh citrus fruits market, with a predominance of oranges, and processed citrus products market, mainly orange juice. A major development over the first decade of the XXI century was the growth in trade in small citrus fruits, which include orange, grape fruit, lemon, clementine, mandarins and satsuma. This is due to the evolution of consumer preferences. World production of citrus fruit during the period 2005 to 2007 increased from 105 million tons to 115 million tons. Since 2008, a decrease in the production of citrus in the leading countries (USA, Brazil, Mexico). In the USA production of major citrus varieties reduced by approximately 13%. At the same time, increased production in Turkey, Morocco, China, South Africa, Egypt. On average, the world's citrus production for the period 2007-2010 increased by 4.5% and amounted to approximately 120 million tons.
Consumption of citrus fruit juices has also increased, thanks to preferences for convenience and healthy products, improvements in quality, competitive prices, promotional activity and technological advances in processing, storage and packaging. This increase boosted citrus juice production and international juice trade.