Florida citrus growers optimistic about quality, demand

(Courtesy Florida Citrus Mutual)

Florida citrus production is projected to be slightly lower this season than last, but high demand is expected throughout the season.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s forecast of 57 million boxes of Florida oranges and 4.5 million boxes of Florida grapefruit means a 15% decrease in Florida orange production and 7% decrease in Florida grapefruit production compared to the 2019-20 season, said Shelley Rossetter, assistant director of global marketing at the Florida Department of Citrus.

However, production of specialty citrus is expected to be up slightly this season over last with 1.1 million boxes forecasted.

A lot of the production drop seems to be for the juice sector, rather than fresh market, Florida growers say.

Strong processing prices will put pressure on the fresh side, said Peter Chaires, executive vice president of Florida Citrus Packers. 

“We expect solid (fresh) movement, though likely lower than last year,” he said. 

Grapefruit quality appears to be excellent, he said. 

“This is the second year in a row Mother Nature has blessed us with exceptionally good early eating quality.”

Overall, Chaires said expectations are for a relatively normal season. 

“Groves are looking pretty good and advanced production practices certainly appear to be paying dividends with many varieties. Tree canopies are more full and the trees look better in many cases than they have in a while,” he said.

DLF International, Fort Pierce, Fla., expects to ship 1.6 million cartons of citrus for the fresh market, which is about 15% more than the previous season, said owner Doug Feek.

California finished its valencia orange crop early, creating space in demand.

Feek attributes the increase to the popularity of citrus during the pandemic, plus the company’s efforts to increase its customer base.

“The crop is down overall, but in the fresh market, if the demand is there, the fruit is available. If there’s any shortage, it’s in the juice market,” Feek said.

DLF produces about 90% oranges but is striving to grow its grapefruit program, to possibly 30% of its product line.

The company is looking to expand grower operations and is under contract to increase grapefruit production near Indian River, Feek said.

The brix level was high until rains made it drop, but it will return when the rainy season ends. Florida fruit is known for its balance of brix, acidity and above all, aroma, he said.

Shipping started Sept. 20 and is expected to finish in July, although grapefruit should finish in April because it doesn’t use cold storage.

Valencia oranges do well in cold storage for part of June and July with barely 1% discards once pulled out and resorted, Feek said.

Dan Richey, president of Riverfront Packing, Vero Beach, Fla., said the firm expects a similar volume of grapefruit this season compared with a year ago.

“The flavor should be excellent as we are seeing a good brix/acid ratio in our tests,” Richey said. 

Riverfront Packing began shipping the second week of October and will have marketable volumes through mid-March.

Peak export business is January through March.

“We ship predominantly grapefruit and 85% of that goes into the international market,” he said. “That is our niche.” 

White grapefruit is predominately sold to Japan, with some volume to South Korea and Europe. White grapefruit has seen its popularity decline over time.

“As you get into southern and western Japan, (consumers) have really converted to the reds and dark reds,” he said.  Red grapefruit is favored in Europe.

At the end of last season, he noted buyers in France and Great Britain provided strong demand as their lockdown restriction began.

In addition, he said consumers were not eating out at all and instead doing more shopping for eating at home. 

“The markets are extremely desirous of Florida citrus,” he said. 

“This has been the case all summer with the Southern Hemisphere fruit and I look for it to continue into the season for us.”

Richey said the external appearance will have some melanose and wind scar due to the weather conditions in the spring and summer.

However, conditions were very conducive to good internal quality. 

“We are very pleased with the brix levels and the brix/acid ratios, which will provide the consumer with a very good eating piece of fruit,” he said. 

John Holford, account manager for Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Oveido, Fla., said the company’s navel crop is expected to show larger sizes and bigger volume than last season.

Holford said the company’s grapefruit crop should be very similar to last year, with the potential for greater packouts and potentially slightly more volume.

“(The) juice orange crop (is) expected to be very similar to last season, with potentially lighter overall supply/volume.” One bright spot is specialty citrus, Holford said.

“Specialty varieties like early pride and sugar belle volume are expected to be much higher this season as the young trees are starting to see decent production numbers along with better maturity and sustainability,” he said.

The company began shipping grapefruit, specialties and oranges around Oct. 22, and navels began Nov. 2, Holford said. 

Navel oranges will peak in late November and December and juice oranges will be in good volume from November through May.

Grapefruit availability will peak in January and February and continue through March. Specialties will start their peak before Thanksgiving and continue with peak volume through Christmas.

Sizing overall is generally in line with previous seasons, with the exception of navels, which seem to be a size or two larger than last year. 

“Grapefruit quality seems to be cleaner overall with better packouts,” Holford said, with brix levels coming on earlier than other seasons.

Navel quality and brix seem to be in line with last year, Holford said, while juicing oranges have varying brix early on but with time will get more consistent. 

“Specialty varieties have had their challenges early on, but with a little cooler weather and better maturities, we should see really good brix and quality later in November and December,” Holford said.

Florida Classic Growers, Dundee, Fla., started packing its first Florida citrus in October with Florida hamlin juice oranges, fallglo and early pride tangerines, as well as navel oranges, said Al Finch, president.

Sizing has been good on navel oranges, running about a size ahead of last season, peaking on 80s and 64 count size. Hamlin oranges have been peaking on the 138/125 count size.

By mid-November, tango tangerines will be in full force.

“There has been great demand overall for Florida citrus during this first half of the season, and we look for this trend to continue,” Finch said.

New in 2020 is a partnership with Riverfront Packing Co., the Packers of Indian River and Quality Fruit Packers Inc.

“The additional volume will allow us to offer more robust programs and enhance our vision of being a one-stop shop for our customers,” Finch said.

Finch expects a good supply of grapefruit through mid-March.

“The grapefruit eating quality has been outstanding,” he said.

After the first of the year, Florida Classic will transition from early season orange varieties to its valencia orange crop, which should be in good supply and available to the end of May.

The honey tangerine crop will start then too, running through early March.

Seald Sweet LLC, Vero Beach, Fla., expects similar volume of Florida volume compared with last season, but demand is way up.

GT Parris, commodity manager, said the company began packing in late October.

“So far we have been pleased with the crop in terms of quality and taste, and we are only expecting to see the taste improve as we move into some cooler weather and the brix increase,” Parris said. 

The company should be in peak volume by mid-November.

He said Seald Sweet has seen demand for citrus kick in around late May and it has stayed on an upward trend. 

“We are hoping this will hold through the winter months,” Parris said.

Seald Sweet’s volumes on all items will be almost identical to last year, he said. 

“Sizing on grapefruit to start has been excellent but I believe will start to level out as we move through the groves,” he said. 

“Hamlins always peak on 125s and 100s, but as we move into other varieties we will see size increase.”

COVID-19 and demand

Florida Classic saw higher demand at the start of this season, which Finch said he believes was influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Many people are looking for domestic citrus and for vitamin C,” Finch said.

Rossetter from Florida Department of Citrus agreed about the increased demand for Florida citrus being health-motivated.

Holford said Duda has seen big citrus demand with the pandemic.

“Since last spring we have seen very strong interest in especially orange citrus demand,” Holford said, and citrus products in packaging continues to sell better than the bulk fruit. 

“As we approach winter, we believe citrus will be front and center with consumers for overall sustained health benefits,” he said. 

Market demand in recent months has been strong, Holford said.

“The imported orange market started and stayed elevated from the get-go as California had a strong early finish on their domestic navel crop, and their valencia crop had a strong following to USDA bids and food box programs,” he said. 

“Demand stayed strong on both domestic and imported oranges especially.”

Holford said the easy peeler demand was not as strong as oranges; however, it kept pace with supply over the summer. 

“So far starting the Florida season, we are starting to see good demand on the oranges and specialty varieties,” he said.

Richey said the f.o.b. market opened up at $20 per carton on small fruit and up to $32 per carton on bigger fruit. Prices have since settled to about $26-28 per carton for 32s and larger and $14-16 per carton on size 56s. 

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