Much like the grape yield in October, Georgia’s latest bumper harvest—this time of citrus fruit— has caused more concern than jubilation among farmers.

But the government has promised citrus growers they won’t run into the same difficulty as their viticulturist compatriots.

With somewhere between 100 000 and 120 000 tons of fruit on their hands—a threefold increase on last year’s crop—farmers are complaining of low prices and a lack of markets. The domestic market is expected to absorb a quarter of the total yield at most, and only 15 000–20 000 tons have so far been exported.

But a plan hatched by the current administration envisages splitting 40 percent of the harvest between Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Bulgaria, with the rest going to Georgian factories for ‘processing’.

This strategy could be fruitful: both Turkey and Iran—two major citrus exporters—have experienced poor harvests this year, leaving gaps in foreign markets. Furthermore, the Russian embargo that was imposed on Georgia last fall has not had as much of an impact on the citrus industry as it has on the winemaking industry.

On the other hand, fruit farmers say that bad weather has already slowed down Georgia’s citrus export, and there is a real fear that the country will have more tangerines than it knows what to do with this Christmas.