The Florida Valencia orange season is getting an early start this year largely due to the fall’s Hurricanes Ian and Nicole. “The packing houses have been running for a couple of weeks now on Valencias and normally we’d be just starting now,” says Adam Roe of Noble Citrus. “We had to start the crop earlier because the early orange crop was short after the hurricanes.”
A rough estimate puts the Valencia crop down 30 percent over last year though the fruit that is available is high quality and high Brix. “We’ll probably finish about three weeks early on packing too. With the numbers a bit down, I think a lot of people will either run out of fruit or be shy about storing fruit through the summer months to supply juice programs,” says Roe, noting it will likely go through the month of June.
Altogether, there’s pressure on supplies for the fresh side and the processor side. “There’s a lot of pressure on the fresh fruit packers because of the condensed window of time that the processors are open because of that diminished volume,” he says.
Florida citrus challenges
While the hurricanes are a notable contributor to the smaller crop, there are other factors at play too. This includes the continued pressure on Florida agriculture land, whether it’s from rising property rates, and competing with other Florida agriculture crops for the land that does remain. “We also saw a huge grower exit at the end of last season, even before the hurricanes,” says Roe.
As far as demand, while February is historically a slower month for citrus movement, it is starting to pick up. “Overall customers get really excited for Valencias because of the great flavor and great juice color. It’s an attention grabber for retailers and consumers because they haven’t seen it in a while,” he says.
As for pricing? It’s average for this time of year which is a challenge considering the expensive growing season with inflationary challenges such as increased fertilizer and fuel costs. “It’s tough to have the same year-over-year pricing but I do think it will increase. We’re optimistic it will rise,” says Roe.
For more information:
Adam Roe
Noble Citrus
Tel: +1 (863) 294-3577
[email protected]
www.noblecitrus.com