USDA’s latest estimate of the 2012-2013 Florida citrus crop has decreased almost 3% to 142 million boxes. This marks the second consecutive month of marked losses. The majority of the decrease occurred in Valencias, which declined 3 million boxes to 76 million from the USDA’s December estimate. Early-mids decreased 1 million boxes to 66 million boxes.
During the 2011-2012 season, Florida produced 146.6 million boxes of oranges. “Several variables such as rainfall, disease pressure, fruit size and significant fruit drop has made it a very tricky year for crop forecasting,” said Michael W. Sparks, executive VP/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. “Fruit drop in early-mids and small sizes in Valencias are most likely the cause of this decrease.”
For Florida specialty fruit and grapefruit all numbers remained the same. The USDA predicts 1.1 million boxes of tangelos and 3.8 million boxes of tangerines. Florida is targeted to harvest 18 million boxes of grapefruit.
The yield for from concentrate orange juice remained at 1.61 gallons per 90-pound box.
Click here for the completed USDA estimate.