Florida orange crop estimate increases again
Florida orange crop estimate increases again
For the second consecutive month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its estimate of the 2015-16 Florida orange crop, predicting growers will produce 76 million boxes, a 7 percent increase.
A 5 million box rise in Valencias to 40 million accounted for the jump. Early and mid-season varieties, which have been harvested already, stayed at 36 million boxes.
"It's nice to be in expansion rather than reduction mode while knowing growers are still producing a quality crop," Michael W. Sparks, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Florida Citrus Mutual, said in a press release. "But our industry remains at historically low production levels as we continue to battle HLB, or citrus greening."
During the 2014-15 season, Florida produced 96.8 million boxes of oranges.
The USDA makes its initial estimate in October of each year and revises it monthly as the crop takes shape until the end of the season in July.
The USDA's estimate of the 2015-16 Florida grapefruit crop remained at 10.7 million boxes. Specialty citrus decreased a fraction to 1.79 million boxes. The yield for frozen concentrate orange juice is 1.42 gallons per 90-pound box.
