The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued its final Florida citrus forecast of the season, pegging the 2012/13 orange crop at 133.4m boxes, a drop of 9 per cent of the previous campaign.
USDA achieved the total by cutting the Valencia estimate by 700,000 boxes to 66.3m overall, while early and mid varieties climbed 100,000 boxes to 67.1m boxes.
'This year's crop really shows the devastating effects of huanglongbing (HLB), or citrus greening disease,' explained Michael Sparks, executive vice-president and CEO of industry body Florida Citrus Mutual. 'We had severe fruit drop and a lot of citrus from stressed trees where HLB ended up on the ground.
'If anything, this season provides stark evidence that growers, scientists and the state of federal governments need to work together to beat this disease and save the US$9bn Florida citrus industry and the 76,000 jobs it supports,' he continued.
'The ongoing research looks positive and I'm optimistic it will ultimately find a solution to HLB but at this time there is no cure.'
Meanwhile, the 2012/13 Florida grapefruit crop stayed at 18.4m boxes, while tangerines and tangelos remained steady at 3.35m and 1m boxes respectively.
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