A good market and strong demand has continued to be the norm for the 2015-16 Texas citrus crop.

“The season is going very well,” Trent Bishop, vice president of sales for Lone Star Citrus Growers in Mission, TX, told The Produce News Jan. 13. “We’ve had a very good season so for and it looks like we are going to have a great January.”

Trent Bishop said sales of Texas grapefruit since the first week of the season have been strong and he believes the promotion and re-positioning of the fruit with retailers deserves some of the credit.Lone Star kicked off the season in late October and early November with several promotions touting its new Winter Sweetz label for its grapefruit. Lone Star switched to the label as the firm believed it is an apt description of the famous red grapefruit that Texas has been producing for decades. The firm said that the name quickly sums up both when it is produced and its flavor profile.

Bishop said sales of grapefruit since the first week of the season have been strong and he believes the promotion and re-positioning of the fruit with retailers deserves some of the credit. As the deal moved into the new year, the Lone Star executive said the market price for both the Texas orange and Texas grapefruit were strong with grapefruit trading at about $14 f.o.b. and oranges even a bit better at $14-$16 per carton.

Florida’s problems with greening has greatly reduced its fresh grapefruit crop, which Bishop said is no doubt helping the Texas market. “I have a lot of good friends in Florida and in no way do I wish them ill will, but their problems are certainly helping us. We have more demand for our fruit from the East Coast then we usually do.”

Bishop said demand from international buyers is also strong but he was reluctant to say Florida’s problems are the cause. “We have gotten more inquiries from export buyers this year, but we are selling to the same people that we always have.”

He described the Texas fruit as “gorgeous” and very high-quality. While the frost season isn’t completely over, so far south Texas has not experienced any extreme cold weather this year and the trend is for increased warming. The El Nino that is beginning to affect California also sends rain through Texas but so far the rain has been fairly light and a positive for growers.

“We are finding that the jet stream is bringing some of those storms through Texas but so far we have only had light showers.”

Texas citrus shipments typically peak in January and February but remain in the marketplace into May. Bishop said the timing for this year’s crop appears to be normal. The pre-season report for the crop noted that it would be down a bit this year because of the alternate bearing nature of the trees, and Bishop said harvested yields have met the early season expectations.