For the second consecutive month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) raised its estimate of the 2015-2016 Florida orange crop predicting growers will produce 76 million boxes, a 7 percent increase.
A 5 million box rise in Valencias to 40 million accounted for the jump. Early and Mid-Season varieties which have been harvested already stayed at 36 million boxes.
"It's nice to be in expansion rather than reduction mode while knowing growers are still producing a quality crop," said Michael W. Sparks, executive VP/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. "But our industry remains at historically low production levels as we continue to battle HLB, or citrus greening."
The USDA makes its initial estimate in October of each year and revises it monthly as the crop takes shape until the end of the season in July.
During the 2014-2015 season, Florida produced 96.8 million boxes of oranges.
The USDA's estimate of the 2015-2016 Florida grapefruit crop remained at 10.7 million boxes. Specialty citrus decreased a fraction to 1.79 million boxes. The yield for frozen concentrate orange juice (FCOJ) is 1.42 gallons per 90-pound box.
For more information:
Andrew Meadows
Florida Citrus Mutual
+1 863 682 1111