Florida oranges are shipping steadily in what, to date, looks to be a calmer season than 2022. “Last season was unique. We had two hurricanes and the freeze so our volume was down for that reason,” said Steven Callaham of the Dundee Citrus Growers. “We’ve had for the most part cooperating weather this year.”
The only thing that has impacted this year’s crop is in late spring and early summer, conditions were fairly dry in Central Florida. In turn that’s bringing on slightly smaller fruit sizing for the 2023 crop, which began in mid-September with Florida juice oranges and this week has moved into navels. (Dundee Citrus is currently also packing seedless tangerines and red grapefruit.) “However the quality of the fruit--the Brix, the ratio and the external appearance--is better than we’ve seen in years. We’re very pleased with the fruit quality this year,” says Callaham.
The season, which started one to two weeks earlier this year, will go on until June.
Consistent demand
As for demand, it’s steady as well and matching the supply of fruit that’s coming in. “There are some imported oranges in the market but as far as the domestic fruit supply, you don’t see anything else coming out of the growing regions in the U.S. right now. Florida has a pretty open market window for the time being,” he says. Come early winter, Florida oranges will hit peak supply.
While last year’s weather events and subsequent impacted crops brought about higher prices, this year’s increased cost inputs are keeping those prices similar, if not slightly higher, than last year. “In the near future, we’re expecting it to stay pretty stable on volume, pricing and availability,” says Callaham. “Typically as you get closer to the December time period and other regions in the U.S. coming into the market, that can also have an influence on pricing as available products increase.”
For more information:
Steven Callaham
Dundee Citrus Growers
Tel: +1 (863) 439-1574
[email protected]
http://dun-d.com/