California’s mandarin crop looks to be starting on time early next month although volume will be down slightly. “The supply is better than last year but below average when it comes to typical California supply,” says Casey Creamer of California Citrus Mutual.
He notes that two years ago, California produced a larger crop that ended up staying on the tree longer than normal. “That had some ramifications in last year’s crop which was down significantly--closer to 60 percent from the year prior,” Creamer says. “That light crop last year we expected to have a rebound again. But growing conditions and with water being difficult three years in a row, the trees are still recovering so we’re not back to average.”
This is even with slightly increased acreage on mandarins in California. The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service noted in its report released in August that mandarin acreage has gone up in the last two years--in 2022, 67, 148 total standing acres were reported while in 2020, there were 63, 809 acres.
Strong quality fruit
That said, Creamer notes that the mandarin quality looks strong this year. “This is the earliest maturing fruit in the last 10 years on a Brix-acid ratio from a taste perspective. We have excellent quality fruit early on in the year which is exceptional,” Creamer says.
The crop comes at a time when California citrus has been out of the market for a while. “We were done early last year in May. And there hasn’t been a large influx of imports so that combined with the great quality to start off the season, all lines up to be an excellent year,” he says.
He notes that import volume has been lighter due to a number of reasons this year including continuing logistics difficulties, a freeze in Chile and more. “It should be a really good start for us import-wise and better than what we’ve seen in years past.”
That said, given the lower supply and the increasing input costs growers and shippers are seeing, prices are higher on mandarins this year. “Even though prices are higher, they’re not keeping pace with inflationary cost pressures,” says Creamer.
For more information:
Abby Peltzer
California Citrus Mutual
Tel: +1 (559) 592.3790
[email protected]
https://www.cacitrusmutual.com/