Latest Florida Orange Estimate Down

Posted by Christina Herrick|April 10, 2012

USDA reduced its orange crop forecast for the 2011-2012 season by 2 million boxes Tuesday, estimating Florida will now produce 145 million boxes.

“It’s truly amazing Florida growers can once again produce such a quality crop in the face of immense challenges such as HLB, or citrus greening,” said Michael W. Sparks, executive VP/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. “This is a testament to the resiliency of our growers and the fact they are the best in the world, bar none.”

The 2011-2012 April decrease was seen entirely in Valencias, with the estimate dropping from 73 million to 71 million boxes. Early and mid-season varieties remained at 74 million boxes. For Florida specialty fruit, the USDA predicts 1.15 million boxes of tangelos and 4.3 million boxes of tangerines. Those numbers are unchanged from March.

The yield for from concentrate orange juice (FCOJ) decreased to 1.62 gallons per 90-pound box from the previous estimate of 1.64 gallons per box.
The USDA predicts Florida will harvest 18.8 million boxes of grapefruit in 2011-2012, showing a minor rise from the March forecast of 18.7 million.

Click here for the complete USDA estimate.