South Australia's navel and mandarin yields are anticipated to come close or break record levels as a result of both current fruit numbers and a significant rise in the amount of bearing trees.
'A large percentage of summer navel trees were planted in 2005, '06 and '07 which are now approaching full production,' said Kym Thiel, Citrus Australia's South Australia value chain coordinator.'This tonnage is dependent on normal growing conditions between now and harvest, but at this early stage fruit size is on track to be average but down on last season. There is also a big variation of fruit size in this year’s crop meaning plenty of choice for consumers.”
Thiel has estimated that the navel crop will approach 100,000 tonnes as the industry recovers from drought-stricken years and summer navels begin full production.
Citrus Australia's general manager of market development, Andrew Harty, believes this is excellent news for the industry.
'Young trees coming into full production and boosting production at the end of the navel season will create opportunities for exporters, as they don't face the same international competition at the end of the season as they do early in the season,” he said.
The state's mandarin crop is anticipated to see record yields with new trees coming into production and bringing the crop to an estimated 28,000 tonnes.
This booming citrus production has arrived at an ideal time for the industry, with the abolition of single importer DNE in the US opening up greater opportunities for citrus export trade.
