The lemon is original from the Southeast of Asia, although at the moment it is produced in all the tropical and tempered areas of the globe. The main producing country is Mexico, followed by India, whereas Spain is the first export country of lemons and limes.

The lemon is probably original from the south of China where this fruit is worshiped as a symbol of happiness, and it has been cultivated in Asia for more than 2,500 years. Once the culture had spread through China, it reached the area nowadays known as Iran. The Arabs spread it during the Xth century along the Mediterranean basin, to the east towards Greece and to the west towards Spain.

According to the Fresh Produce Desk Book of 2001, the world production of lemons and limes is around 9,637,000 tons. The following table reflects the distribution of the production by continents.

COUNTRY	PRODUCTION (thousand tons)		%
	1998	1999
Africa	567	571	6
Asia	3,058	3,061	32
Europe	1,685	1,641	17
North America	2,265	2,293	24
Oceania	36	36	-
South America	1,979	2,035	21
TOTAL	9,590	9,637	100

Source: Fresh Produce Desk Book (2001).

The European production occupies the fourth place in the world ranking. The main producing countries are Spain, Italy and Greece.

The 10 main producing countries in the world along with their production evolution in the last years, are shown in the following table:

COUNTRY	PRODUCTION (thousand tons)
	1989-91	1996	1997	1998
Mexico	727	1,126	1,126	1,091
India	747	980	1,000	1,000
Iran	460	754	940	1,000
Argentina	497	801	871	871
The United States	718	913	869	848
Spain	603	484	647	688
Italy	674	610	615	610
Brazil	392	455	455	455
Turkey	374	401	270	360
Egypt	352	312	264	300

Source: FAO Production Yearbook 1998 (including lemons and limes).

As shown in the table, the country with greater lemon and lime production is Mexico, and very close to it we find India and Iran, whose production is similar.

In Spain, the main producing area is the levantine or east coast, being Valencia, Alicante and mainly Murcia the most important producers, with great surfaces intended for lemons export to Europe.

The following table details the 8 provinces with a greater cultivated surface of lemons in 1989, in hectares:

PROVINCE	SURFACE (ha)
Murcia	25,567
Alicante	15,553
Málaga	5,588
Almería	1,191
Sevilla	313
The Canary Islands	265
The Balearic Islands	264
Valencia	220
TOTAL (all Spain)	49.566

Source: Anuario de Estadística Agraria 1989. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Secretaría General Técnica

It is possible to see, while analyzing the previous data, that more than half of the producing surface in Spain is centered in the province of Murcia, surpassing in surface to all the area cultivated in Alicante and Malaga.

Concerning exports, the 10 main exporters of lemons and limes are:

COUNTRY	EXPORT
	Tons 1998	thousand $ 1998
Spain	501,177	260,636
Mexico	217,679	54,907
Argentina	154,345	73,376
The United States	121,715	81,448
Turkey	103,475	58,001
The Netherlands	82,034	55,379
South Africa	55,000	17,050
Greece	36,904	12,388
Italy	24,722	14,562
Uruguay	17,844	6,940

(Export of lemons and limes)
Source: FAO Trade Yearbook, 1998.

We can see the great difference between the Spanish exports and that of the rest of the exporters. Spain exports 280,000 tons more than the second main exporter, Mexico. The quantity of tons exported by Spain exceeds the total quantity of tons exported by Mexico, the united States and Argentina together.

The ten main importers of limes and lemons are:

COUNTRY	IMPORT
	tons 1998	thousand $ 1998
The United States	183,473	58,750
Germany	133,045	88,359
France	116,726	84,994
The Netherlands	102,422	65,267
Poland	96,966	42,946
Russian Federation	96,436	29,560
Japan	86,445	130,658
United Kingdom	61,928	50,734
Italy	61,345	44,366
Canada	42,047	24,415

(Export of lemons and limes)
Source: FAO Trade Yearbook, 1998.

One can see that the first positions, except the United States, are occupied by Nordic countries. This is because they are countries that supply their own inner market and are also devoted to re-export.