Method for producing citric acid which involves inoculating a citric acid-accumulating and hydrocarbon-assimilating strain of bacterium belonging to the genus Corynebacterium in an aqueous culture medium containing at least one C9-C20- normal paraffin as the principal carbon source; incubating the culture at a pH of from about 5 to about 8 until citric acid is substantially accumulated in the culture broth; and recovering the the so-accumulated citric acid therefrom. The advantage of the above method resides in the fact that the n-paraffin hydrocarbon source is available in large quantities and at low cost; the fermentation period (2-3 days) is considerably shorter than conventional methods and the citric acid thus-obtained is produced in a high yield and in a pure form.
