The 2019–20 Florida all-orange forecast released on April 9 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is 70 million boxes, down 1 million boxes from the March forecast. This represents a 1 percent decrease in the expected orange crop size.
Non-Valencia Oranges
The forecast for Florida non-Valencia orange production is unchanged at 30 million boxes. The non-Valencia harvest is about over for the season. California remained at 40 million boxes. Texas dropped from 1.95 to 1.8 million boxes.
Valencia Oranges
The forecast for Florida Valencia orange production dropped 1 million boxes from the previous forecast to 40 million boxes. California remained at 8.5 million boxes. Texas saw a decrease from 610,00 to 500,000 boxes.
Grapefruit
Florida’s grapefruit production forecast is lowered 200,000 boxes to 5.2 million boxes, representing a 4 percent decline. The white grapefruit forecast is unchanged at 900,000 boxes. The red grapefruit forecast is lowered 200,000 boxes to 4.3 million boxes. California’s grapefruit forecast increased from 4.1 to 4.3 million boxes, while Texas saw a decline from 6.2 to 5.8 million boxes.
Tangerines and Tangelos
The forecast for Florida tangerines and tangelos is unchanged at 1.05 million boxes. California saw an increase in this category from 22 million boxes to 23 million boxes.
See the complete U.S. citrus crop forecast here.
Mark your calendar! The next citrus crop forecast for the 2019–20 season is scheduled to be released at 12:00 noon Eastern Time/9:00 a.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. You will be able to tune in to the Citrus Industry website to hear the numbers as they are given by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Coverage of the Citrus Crop Forecast is brought to you by Aerobotics, Farm Credit of Florida, Fruit Shield, Labor Solutions, and TradeMark Nitrogen Corp.