Some Florida grapefruit shippers are estimating that there is about a month left to go on the state's grapefruit season. "We are still packing grapefruit and right now, everything that we're packing is coming out of our Citrus Under Protective Screen (CUPS) program and we will have good volume for another four weeks," says Steven Callaham of Dundee Citrus Growers and Florida Classic Growers.
While volume on grapefruit coming out of this program is increasing annually, that protective environment allows the season to run slightly longer than grapefruit growing outdoors in Florida. "We had some pretty harsh freezes at the end of January- beginning of February and it damaged a lot of the outdoor groves. However our indoor groves didn't sustain any freeze damage so that's another reason we still have plenty of fruit on the tree," says Callaham.
Meanwhile the demand for Florida grapefruit is still steady and it's believed it will stay that way, or even strengthen slightly as the season winds down.
© Dundee Citrus Growers and Florida Classic Growers
Steady pricing expected to finish
That's leaving pricing also steady and relatively free of fluctuation in the past few months. It's also expected to stay steady until the season finishes, particularly given California is also still shipping grapefruit and Texas generally winds down its production in March. Imports from South America are expected to start in June and then from South Africa in mid to late summer.
Looking ahead at the fall season, one other benefit of the CUPS program, which offers a more tropical-like setting for grapefruit growing, is that the protected grapefruit season starts slightly earlier–in late September rather than sometime in October, though CUPS grapefruit are expected to see promotable quantities in October.
That offering means more domestic fruit can be offered earlier over imports from South Africa. Last fall, South Africa sent a significant amount of citrus to the U.S. to avoid incoming tariffs and in turn, that pressured pricing and availability on domestic citrus. "However now our volume is increasing significantly each season and we're producing some of the best grapefruit we've ever experienced out of the state of Florida. Florida grapefruit is back in a big way," adds Callaham.
For more information:
Steven Callaham
Dundee Citrus Growers Association
Florida Classic Growers
Tel: +1 (863) 439-1574
[email protected]
http://dun-d.com/
