The 2019-20 California citrus season was one for the books.
“We were framing it as a tale of two seasons,” said Casey Creamer, president of Exeter-based California Citrus Mutual.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and before the tariff exclusions for China took effect, “The season was horrible,” he said, “some of the worst pricing we’ve ever seen.”
To make matters worse, the season was coming off a year where pricing was down as well.
“A lot of growers were really hurt, especially in the first half of the season, as far as pricing goes,” Creamer said.
In fact, pricing was well below the cost of production.
“We were in a very serious situation prior to March.”
But March marked a turnaround.
The tariff on citrus destined for China prompted by a trade dispute came down from the high — about 70% — to about 35%.
That brought on additional movement to China at that time compared to previous seasons.
Then came COVID-19.
“We had some sporadic movement up front, with everybody doing runs on grocery stores,” he said.
“As the season went along, we were able to catch back up with the movement (to where) we would normally be.”
Pricing improved following that buying surge.
“If you were a grower, the first part of the year was not a good season,” Creamer said. “If you had late navels — or later on in the season — you might have done well, or at least made up for the negative season the year before.”
But along with the improved movement and pricing came added protocols dealing with the coronavirus, difficulties with shipments and other challenges.
The quarantine sparked by the pandemic caused a change in the way people shopped for groceries.
“(Consumers) would go home and shelter, and then all of a sudden go back and stock up again,” he said.
“Retailers were trying to understand the complete shift in consumer buyer habits.”
For suppliers, “The orders were kind of sporadic,” with lots of hills and valleys.
Conditions eventually started to settle down as people got used to the shelter-in-place lifestyle and “the new normal.”
When all was said and done, growers in California’s Central Valley topped the NASS forecast of 73 million 40-pound cartons, shipping 85 million cartons during the 2019-20 season.
Even the summer valencia market was exceptional.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had the movement and the pricing we’ve had (on valencias this year),” Creamer said.
“We look at that to carry over into the navel, mandarin and the rest of the citrus season,” he said.
“People are pretty optimistic.”
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