Good demand for navel oranges from California has made for a steady market. Export prices are good, but difficulties on west coast ports have slowed the rate at which orange suppliers can ship fruit overseas.“I'd say prices are pretty good,” said Mike Roberts, sales manager for Suntreat. “They're probably as good as last year's prices, if not a little better.” On January 23, prices for a first grade carton of navel oranges size 48 were between $19.80 and $21.90. Prices for a carton of 72s were between $16.80 and $19.90, a carton of 88s was priced between $12.80 and $14.90, and prices for a carton of 113s were between $10.40 and $12.50.
“We weren't originally supposed to have large sizes, and smaller-sized oranges came down early,” explained Roberts. But smaller sizes haven't dominated this season, even though there is more smaller-sized fruit. Prices abroad have also been strong, even on more abundant smaller fruit, but Roberts worries that the labour dispute between port operators and longshoremen could hamper growers' ability to take advantage of a good market abroad.
“You're trying to pick fruit and make orders, and when the vessel you're using for transport gets pushed off for a week and the fruit just sits there, it's an issue,” said Roberts. “So you try to be more conservative on what orders you're taking and what you're trying to pack for export. The fruit has to go somewhere, so we could end up selling a higher percentage of fruit domestically because we rely on export markets to move a certain amount every year, and we don't know if this port situation will get straightened out.”
For more information:
Mike Roberts
Suntreat
+1 559 562 4988