Clementine and mandarin category continues to soar
A doubling of domestic production and a quadrupling of imports has helped the retail per capita availability of fresh tangerines/tangelos and mandarins rise 187% since 2000, USDA statistics show.
Retail 2020 per capita consumption of tangerines/tangelos/mandarins was 6.3 pounds, up from 2.7 pounds in 2000.
The total U.S. supply of soft citrus varieties was 2.3 billion pounds in 2020, with 1.42 billion pounds supplied by domestic production and 862 million pounds from imports.
That compares with 870 million pounds of total supply in 2000, when 657 million pounds were grown in the U.S. and 220 million pounds were imported.
The share of supply provided by imports rose from 24% in 2000 to 37% in 2020, according to the USDA.
The Packer's 2023 Fresh Trends consumer survey reveals that 23% of consumers said they purchased clementines/mandarins in the past year. That compares with 17% of consumers surveyed who said they purchased grapefruit and 46% of consumers who said they purchased oranges in the past year.
Higher-income households correlate with more frequent clementine/mandarin purchases, according to 2023 Fresh Trends. The 2023 Fresh Trends survey showed that 32% of consumers earning more than $100,000 said they purchased clementines/mandarins in the past year, compared with just 15% of consumers earning less than $25,000.
