The transition from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere is happening now for Wonderful Halos mandarins. Overall, the quality and eating experience of summer Halos have been good and demand was up as a result. "However, both Chile and South Africa have had independent weather challenges during their seasons, demonstrating the importance of bringing in fruit from different sourcing regions," says Dave Rooke, SVP, Sales, Wonderful Citrus. Peru's season was a bit more stable and is the third southern hemisphere country Wonderful Citrus relies on in terms of Halos volume. "All regions complement each other and play an important role in year-round supply," commented Rooke.
"After a good summer, we're continuing on in what should be a really good winter," he said. California Halos mandarins are just a few weeks away from their first harvest of the season with shipping likely starting the first week of November. "We expect for the transition to be fairly seamless, and it looks like there will be no gap in supply." Production volume is expected to be up, and demand is anticipated to equal it. "Halos mandarins thrived last year with double digit growth numbers and we're hoping this will continue this season. It's all driven by consistently offering the right quality product 52 weeks per year. We work hard to deliver that, whether from California or the southern hemisphere," said Rooke. The importance of delivering a high-quality product is underscored by the fact that mandarins are responsible for about 43 percent of all citrus sold in the industry. "It's the largest category, driving the basket and driving the profit for the retailer."
Dave Rooke showing Wonderful Seedless Lemons at last week's Global Produce & Floral Show in Atlanta.
Seedless lemon supply up
Wonderful Seedless Lemons are developing to be another key category for Wonderful Citrus. Supply is going to see a pretty big jump this year as the trees are maturing, new acreage is coming into production, and lemons are experiencing an on-year.
In California, harvest in the Desert region (D3) has started up. This region will be followed by D1, the Central Valley and then D2 Ventura/the coastal region. In addition, Wonderful Citrus has plantings in Mexico that supplement supply in summertime. The first meaningful volume from Mexico's orchards will be experienced next summer. "As we aspire to offer seedless lemons 52 weeks/year, it is important to diversify our growing regions. With that in mind, we also have 700 acres of seedless lemon trees up in District 9, Monterey County," shared Rooke. These trees are only a few years old and lemons are not commercially harvested yet. However, over time the expectation is for Monterey County to supplement the window between the Central Valley and Mexico. "We are excited for this expansion because increased supply coupled with growing demand will allow us to build consumer awareness." In North America, Wonderful Citrus has the exclusive rights to sell seedless lemons.
As a whole, the lemon category witnessed a growth of $12 million this past year. Out of that growth number, $10 million was generated by Wonderful Seedless Lemons and of the bagged lemon sales growth, 100 percent was driven by Wonderful Seedless Lemons. With growth opportunities in supply as well as demand, the outlook for the category is wonderful.
For more information:
Lauren Cleaner
Wonderful Citrus
Tel: +1 (424) 361-4847
[email protected]
www.wonderfulcitrus.com