Citrus crops in South Australia's Riverland region will be well down on last year's, but not to the extent originally feared, the ABC has reported.
The fruit was damaged by extreme heat late last year, prompting experts to predict that some crops in the region would not be viable.
From 7 November the region endured 14 consecutive days of temperatures above 32oC, causing citrus trees in the area to drop a lot of fruit.
Citrus Growers of South Australia industry development officer Kym Thiel now believes the navel orange crop will be less than 55,000 tonnes, down from 82,000 tonnes in 2009 - the largest crop in state history.
This season's lighter crop has resulted in larger fruit, according to Mr Thiel.
'That's one of the things that we're really looking forward to this year,' he said.
'The industry has grown the crop that everybody's always wanted.
'We do have large fruit, there's no doubt about that, the fruit is looking large, good quality and should have good taste.'
