Delayed by wet weather, the 2013/14 Florida grapefruit season finally got going in late September with shipments from the Indian River growing region.
“We’ve had a lot of rain leading up to this year’s harvest, which has held back picking somewhat,” says Duke Chadwell of Florida’s Citrus Administrative Committee on October 8th. “The industry has only shipped around 400,000 cartons (19.2kg) to date compared to about 1m this time last year. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, since we needed the rain.”
Chadwell notes that, unlike the 2012 season, this year’s ample rains have allowed Florida grapefruit to increase in diameter.
“The industry had a lot of small-sized fruit last season but this year the size curve is much more in keeping with historical norms,” says Chadwell.
By mid-October, Florida grapefruit production was expected to be in full swing, with brix levels well ahead of last year’s.
“The internal quality of the fruit is looking significantly better this season, but because of the weather over the last few months it remains to be seen how the external appearance turns out,” observes Chadwell.
Florida continues to rely heavily on foreign markets for its grapefruit distribution. According to FDOC statistics, more than half of the state’s shipments last season were exported. Japan led all destinations with 3.9m cartons – 54 per cent of the volume.
However, shipments to Japan continued on a decade-long decline, off 19 per cent from 2011/12 levels to 4.8m cartons, and nearly 68 per cent from the 12.1m cartons exported during the 2003/04 season. Higher FOB prices resulting from decreasing production and a sluggish economy have combined to reduce Florida grapefruit presence in the Japanese market.
“Last year, it was also a quality issue but you had an extremely over-valued Japanese yen that didn’t help matters either,” says Robert Thomas, export sales manager for IMG Citrus (Vero Beach). “However, the exchange rate is much better to start the new season and the economy has improved somewhat, so hopefully (the Florida industry) will have a better year in Japan.”
