The import citrus season is well underway and GT Parris of Seald Sweet provides an update as to how the season is progressing.
Lemons: Argentina's rain during pre-harvesting and harvesting of lemons impacted the initial projections for the season. "They weren't sure how much the size was increasing and they were also wondering about potential quality issues," says Parris.
That means the projections for Seald Sweet were off probably 10-15 percent of what was initially expected. "What we're getting quality-wise is fairly decent so we're able to make up a little bit with better packouts," he says.
That said, a shorter season is expected by about two to three weeks. "They'll probably have lemons from Argentina coming into August and that'll be it–last year we went into September with fruit and this year will be earlier," says Parris.
That will put pressure on Chile, which hasn't started its season yet, to cover the remaining supply and its volume is projected to be up 20-30 percent over last year, though that is subject to weather changes. "The last two weeks have had a lot of rain so we're waiting to see if that's going to adjust any of the Chilean lemon projections," says Parris.
Meanwhile, lemons have seen a good market with stable demand and consistent pricing.
Argentina's rain during pre-harvesting and harvesting of lemons impacted the initial projections for the season so a shorter season on lemons from Argentina is expected by about two to three weeks.
Clementines: Seald Sweet is starting its early season clementines from South Africa earlier than usual. "We knew Peru was going to be off and Chile was going to have a late start," says Parris. While normally shipments arrive in mid-June, the company began bringing them in by the end of May.
Peru is supplying fruit, albeit less than originally hoped for, while Chile is beginning to ship its clementines now. "We are seeing decent quality and pack outs in clementines. As the season goes on, we are getting into better clementines and now we're going to start moving into the mandarins out of South Africa, along with Chile," says Parris. "The quality in color and flavor of the fruit is only going to improve from here on out."
The clementine market has also been a stable one. "We came off of California and there was a hard drop and the market has stayed right there and it's right where we need to be," he says.
Oranges: Compared to initial expectations, oranges from both South Africa and Chile hadn't sized up to what was expected. "We are seeing a heavier supply of smaller fruit–88s, 72s, 105s. About 70 percent of the product that we're receiving now are in those three sizes," says Parris. "It's going to be great for bagging and foodservice."
This means large navels will be at a premium this year–sizes 64s, 56s and 48s. "We are locked in on programs on certain sizes so we'll monitor daily to ensure those are covered but hopefully capture the spot market on the other sizes to bring the prices back to the growers," he says.
For more information:
G.T. Parris
Seald Sweet
Tel: +1 (772) 569-2244
[email protected]
www.sealdsweet.com