The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) latest monthly forecast for the 2013/14 Florida ornge crop has been released, predicting a further fall in volumes of 4m boxes to a total 110m boxes.
The drop was due to a fall in Valencia numbers from 61m boxes to 57m boxes, while early-mid varieties remained level at 53m boxes.
'We continue to feel the effects of HLB, or citrus greening disease, in groves across Florida,' said Michael Sparks, executive vice-president and CEO of industry body Florida Citrus Mutual. 'The silver lining is that the tight supply will put upward pressure on grower returns, however that is not sustainable in the long term. That's why finding a solution to this destructive disease in the laboratory is so important.'
During the 2012/13 campaign, Florida produced 133.6m boxes of oranges.
Meanwhile, the USDA's estimate for the state's grapefruit crop remained stable at 16m boxes, while specialty fruit predictions fell 320,000 boxes to 3.83m boxes.
