The demand is exceeding the supply for both Navel and Valencia oranges from California. "We are doing our very best to stretch supplies to keep oranges on the shelf for our partners," says Jesse Silva of Kings River Packing, a family-owned and operated eight-generation grower-packer-shipper. "One challenge is matching the right amount of supply with overall demand as it always changes."
It's a bit of a different picture from last year at this time. This season has better quality fruit but with very high demand–in fact, Navel and other orange varieties have exceeded original demand projections.
Fruit rungs along the company's Brix sorter.
All of this also started with an early start to the California citrus crop given there were warmer summer temperatures during the growing season that increased sugar levels and dropped the acid levels in the fruit. "That trend has carried consistently throughout the growing season. We expect the crops to finish earlier than normal or more on time depending on crop yield and quality. Each commodity and variety do vary so we approach them very differently," says Silva.
Right now, King's River is packing and shipping Late Summer Navels, Heirloom Navels, Raspberry Oranges–an exclusive brand of Blood Oranges from Kings River– Lemons, Poppies Mandarins, Gold Nugget Mandarins, Red Grapefruit, Organic Poppies Mandarins, Organic Navels, Organic Lemons, Cara Cara Navels and Valencia juicing Oranges.
The team from Kings River Packing.
Imports update
Along with California citrus, which Kings River Packing runs year-round supply on some items, it also ships citrus from Morocco from January to April and Chilean, Peruvian, and Argentinian fruit from June to October. "The growing and harvest conditions have been across the board ideal. Much different than last season as the weather impacted many different things," says Silva, adding that South Africa and Australia are starting or close to starting their seasons in a small way. All countries are impacted by U.S. tariffs ranging from 10 percent to 30 percent on imports coming into the country.
With strong, steady demand for California citrus, prices are also stronger than a few months ago although that is typical for this time in the season. "Overall prices this season are a little lower than last season because of the higher crop yield and necessary promotions to move the larger crop," says Silva. "We see strong summer season prices setting up for U.S. citrus programs as retailers are looking to promote summer citrus. Consumers desire high-quality citrus products all year long, citrus in general is a staple item for the produce category."
With strong, steady demand for California citrus, prices are also stronger than a few months ago although that is typical for this time in the season.
Looking ahead, strong supply is matching up with good promotions on Valencias, Lemons, Mandarins, and Raspberry Oranges. Navels and some organics will also wind down over the next few months. "Navels pick up when we move into imports in early July," says Silva, noting that while retailers will shift the focus to more seasonal items like berries, stone fruit, and grapes, citrus items will continue to be a staple product for consumers.
He also notes another challenge growers and shippers are dealing with is assessing these seasonal transitional windows with ever-changing weather that may or may not affect fruit quality. "Planning the seasonal roadmap is key to the success of our relationships, so we are focused on being the best at this by adding a lot of resources in this area for our partners. We focus on the year-round picture with the best fruit for our partners, so they don't have to worry about being out of stock or having subpar fruit," says Silva.
For more information:
Jesse Silva
Kings River Packing
Tel: +1 (559) 574-1285
https://kingorange.com/