Valencia orange supply from California will finish early this season. "Most shippers will be done by the end of September. Last year we went into late October so there will be a bit of a gap between the start of the Navel orange season," says Al Bates, president of Sun Pacific Shippers. Navel oranges (and mandarins) in California are expected to start mid to late October.
Bates says there will be a bit of a gap between the end of the Valencia season and the start of the Navel orange season.
The light crop of Valencias that is available this season also saw good movement early on. At the same time, the acreage on the citrus item has also reduced dramatically over the last 20 years. That followed an oversupply of Valencias that was happening in the industry at the same time as imports arriving–not to mention California Navels extending their season regularly. "Half the acreage on Valencias has come out over the last 20 years but now it's right-sized. There's enough acreage and volume to meet the demand and that demand has migrated to these in-store juicing programs." Those juice concentrate prices have also grown notably since COVID-19 first emerged. "So the fresh market and the juice markets have helped the California Valencia grower," says Bates. "It's been a decent deal over the last couple of years whereas 10 years ago, it wasn't so good."
Import citrus
Along with domestic fruit, there are also imported citrus and Naval oranges out of Chile, along with South Africa and Australia. Some Valencias will be coming later out of the Southern Hemisphere. Imports will likely finish up towards the end of October to the first of November.
The company also has ranches in Chile where it's growing Tango mandarins.
As for demand, it's good and the fruit is shipping well. "That's because there's not a lot of availability and Valencias don't really go to the major retailers–they mostly handle imports. They go more to regional chains where a lot of Valencias are being used for in-store juicing programs," says Bates. "So as we get into September, I think there will be a significant increase in pricing for Valencias because supply is dwindling and the season will finish earlier than anyone had anticipated."
For more information:
Al Bates
Sun Pacific Shippers
Tel: +1 (213) 612-9957
https://sunpacific.com/