Tally up Time for Florida Citrus Season Scorecard
July 16, 2020 The 2019-2020 Florida citrus season has finally wrapped up. And thanks mostly to the wide-ranging impacts of coronavirus, the campaign was unlike any other. The pandemic aside, deep-rooted production challenges continue to dog the state’s citrus growers. Living with HLB is not getting any easier. So, how did the final numbers from USDA shake out? Let’s take a look.
USDA’s tally for all oranges settled at 67.7 million boxes (29.7 million boxes of early to mid-season varieties plus 38 million of Valencia). This figure remained unchanged from last month’s estimate, but was down overall from last season’s total that came in just shy of 72 million boxes.
The government agency’s initial all orange forecast last October was 74 million boxes, broken down as 32 million boxes of non-Valencia combined with 42 million boxes of Valencia. Last August, citrus economist Elizabeth Steger submitted a pre-season estimate of 73 million boxes (give or take with a range of 69 to 77 million boxes).
The estimates held steady early on, and then reductions were more the norm during the last third of the season. Drought conditions across parts of the state during mid- to late spring did not help trees already under stress from HLB and likely contributed to the lower number of Valencia fruit harvest.
There was an unexpected ray of sunshine this spring. During the onset of the coronavirus in the U.S., orange juice sales saw a surge with consumers concerned about boosting their immune systems any way they can. According to Neilsen, retail OJ sales shot up 38% year over year in March. The increased demand teamed well with ramped-up marketing efforts mounted by the Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC).
Some positive ground also was gained for grapefruit. The total crop for the season came in at 4.85 million boxes, arriving close to the starting estimate of 4.6 million boxes. In February, the estimate reached almost 6 million boxes. Last season, the total was 4.5 million boxes.
The 2019-2020 Florida citrus season shows an industry fighting to recover from disease and hurricanes, says Shannon Ross Shepp, FDOC Executive Director “The slight decrease in orange and increases in both grapefruit and specialty citrus production illustrates our growers are finding some success with grove care and mitigating against disease pressure. With total OJ retail sales up 11% this season and additional funding for marketing from the legislature, we are positioned for an even brighter 2020-2021 season.”
Loading ...The first USDA forecast of the 2020-2021 citrus season is scheduled to release Oct. 9. In the meantime, keep an eye out for pre-season predictions from Steger as well as input from other sources like Louis Dreyfus Co.
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