The US citrus industry has faced an array of challenges entering 2015. Citrus greening continues to ravage Florida’s production, while drought remains a serious problem for California growers, as they watch the Asian citrus psyllid spread throughout the state to the point of becoming endemic.
If that weren’t enough, a labour dispute that has brought West Coast ports to all but a standstill in recent months threatens to reduce California navel orange exports to the Asia-Pacific region to a fraction of their usual volume this season. No one has ever said this was an easy business, but US citrus growers have to be wondering when their luck will change.
Here’s a seasonal update for three of the major US citrus categories at mid-season.
Navels
As is typically the case, weather has had an impact on California navel orange quality. A spate of hot weather lasting from late summer into the early autumn months and the ongoing drought appear to have reduced pack-out volume in the San Joaquin Valley by a few million cartons from original estimates.
Also, another mild winter has pushed fruit maturity ahead of where the California industry would prefer to see it, as the season approached the midpoint. On the positive side, navel orange sugar content is running very high, producing excellent eating fruit.
“The fruit has been eating absolutely great from the start of the season,” said Tom Wollenman of LoBue Bros Citrus.
As of mid-January, untold shipments of navel oranges destined to supply the Lunar New Year holidays have been lost, as exporters were reluctant to load their fruit with no firm date of delivery. With the critical spring shipping period to South Korea – the largest offshore market for California navels – due to commence by mid-February, the lack of progress in resolving the labour dispute has raised industry concerns.
“We’re ‘okay’ as an industry at this point in the season,” said Wollenman. “But if the weather doesn’t cooperate (cooler weather, additional rain) and the port congestion isn’t solved, this season could turn out to be no fun at all.”
California lemons
The USDA forecast the California lemon crop at 38,000 cartons (18.1kg) last October; that figure has since been raised to 40,000 cartons, which has been about the average pack-out over the last few seasons, despite California’s drought. Bearing acreage is around 18,600ha, up slightly from last year.
“We’ve had a relatively good start to the rainy season this year, which should help somewhat with fruit sizing,” said Mark Golden of Umina Bros in mid-January. “But we need much, much more to put an end to the drought.
Driven by perceived health attributes, global demand for fresh lemons exploded in the last year or so. Leading the charge was China, where a consumer frenzy pushed sales to record levels.
Florida grapefruit
The Florida citrus industry continues to fight the effects of greening disease, now thoroughly entrenched throughout the state’s orchards. According to the USDA, production is expected to total just 30m cartons (19.3 kg), down slightly from last season’s 15.7m cartons and down 20 per cent from the 2011/12 season. Most of Florida’s grapefruit production (73 per cent) is in red varieties, with the remaining packed to whites. By most accounts, fruit quality is quite good this season with high brix, and 70 per cent of the size curve peaking on counts 40, 48 and 56 for reds and 52 per cent respectively for whites.
Japan, the industry’s largest market, is expected to import only about 2.5m cartons this season, down from around 2.9m in 2013/14.
“If so, it will be the least amount shipped to Japan in recent memory,” said Robert Thomas of IMG Citrus. “Grapefruit consumption is declining in Japan, mainly due to changes in generational eating habits. But the US dollar’s value and our declining production raising fob prices makes Florida grapefruit quite an expensive item for the Japanese consumer these days.”
The full update on the US citrus season is available in the February edition of Asiafruit Magazine.
