Two spells of freezing weather that swept across Florida's US$9bn citrus industry in December has caused damage to small percentage of the crop, according to a new report released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The USDA revealed that around 38 per cent of Florida's early- and mid-season oranges and 12 per cent of its late-season oranges had suffered at least minor damage from the freezing weather, although the vast majority of the state's orange trees escaped with no leaf damage.
Most of the fruit damage was in the outer portion, the USDA said, with only 4.5 per cent of early-season oranges, 6.4 per cent of mid-season oranges and 1 per cent of late-season oranges experiencing major damage at the centre.
Last week, the USDA's January forecast pegged this season's Florida citrus crop at 140m boxes, a reduction of 3m boxes on the previous estimate, impacted by smaller fruit size and early estimations from December's cold snap.
Analysts told Reuters that, in the wake of the new report, they expected the USDA to cut the crop estimate by another 2m-4m orange boxes in its next monthly forecast.
No comments yet