The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has increased its earlier orange forecast for 2010/11 by 4m cartons, predicting a total crop of some 142m cartons.
'The late maturing crop and the freeze has complicated the forecasting,' commented Michael Sparks, executive vice-president and chief executive of growers group Florida Citrus Mutual.
'This should put us closer to the final season number but the crop estimate is an ongoing process.'
The USDA traditionally makes its initial forecast in October and then revises it monthly until the end of the season in July.
The most recent revision has been attributed to an upturn in output of early and mid-season varieties, production of which grew by 4m to 70m cartons.
The overall projection for Valencias, meanwhile, remained at 72m boxes for the season.
In Florida, the USDA estimated tangelo production would increased by 100,000 cartons to 1.1m cartons but its tangerine forecast held steady at 4.4m.
The department's estimate for grapefruit also remained unchanged at 19.6m boxes.
Its all-variety yield for frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) remained at 1.57 gallons per 90lb carton.
The Valencia yield dropped to US$1.62 from US$1.64 per carton.
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