The 2019–20 Florida citrus crop forecast released on May 12 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture saw decreases in all categories. The numbers for California and Texas did not change.
ORANGES
The Florida all-orange forecast is 69.7 million boxes, down 1 percent from April’s 70 million boxes. If realized, this will be 3 percent less than last season’s revised final production. The slight decrease came in non-Valencia (early, midseason, and Navel varieties) oranges. No change was reported for the Valencia crop.
The forecast for non-Valencia orange production is finalized at 29.7 million boxes. Harvest is complete for the included varieties. The Navel forecast, included in the non-Valencia portion of the forecast, is 800,000 boxes, 3 percent of the non-Valencia total.
The Row Count survey, conducted April 29-30, indicated 82 percent of the Valencia rows are harvested.
GRAPEFRUIT
Florida’s all-grapefruit production forecast decreased from 5.2 million boxes in April to 4.9 million boxes in May. This represents a 6 percent decline. The white grapefruit forecast shrunk from 900,000 boxes to 800,000 boxes. The red grapefruit forecast dipped from 4.3 to 4.1 million boxes.
TANGERINES AND TANGELOS
Florida’s tangerine and tangelo crop saw a 3 percent decline, dropping from 1.05 million boxes to 1.02 million boxes.
See the May U.S. citrus crop forecast here.
Listen to the citrus crop forecast for Florida:
Listen to the citrus crop forecast for all states:
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 Thursday, June 11, 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.
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