Season’s Final Florida Orange Estimate Ends On Down Note
July 12, 2011 The USDA released its final orange crop forecast for the 2010-2011 season, showing a 1 million box reduction to 139 million boxes.
Although the June to July number was down the overall orange crop is 4% larger than last season when Florida growers produced 133.6 million boxes of oranges.
“This has really been a successful season for Florida citrus growers,” said Michael W. Sparks, executive VP/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. “With all the challenges we faced, from cold weather to pest and disease to the drought conditions, the quality of the 2010-2011 crop shows how skilled the Florida citrus grower is at producing their product. We look forward to next season.”
•ºClick here to see the complete USDA estimate.
The 139 million box forecast in 2010-2011 is made up of 70 million early and midseason varieties. The drop occurred in Valencias, which are down to 69 million boxes from 70 million last month.
The USDA estimate for grapefruit remained unchanged at 19.9 million boxes. Last season, Florida produced 20.3 million boxes of grapefruit. For Florida specialty fruit, the USDA’s tangelo estimate remained at 1.15 million boxes, while the tangerine forecast remained at 4.6 million boxes.
The all variety yield for from frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) decreased from 1.59 gallons per 90-pound box to 1.58 gallons. The Valencia yield decreased from 1.68 gallons per box to 1.66 gallons per box.
The USDA makes its initial forecast in October and then revises its monthly until the end of the season in July. The USDA may adjust the final number in September.
Source: Florida Citrus Mutual news release
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