Global orange production for 2019-20 is estimated to fall 7.8 million metric tons (MMT) from the previous year to 46.1 MMT, according to a July report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Consumption is forecast to be flat, though not down. Global trade is expected to be lower with an anticipated drop in exports from Brazil and Mexico.
Production in Brazil is estimated to fall 19 percent to 15.6 MMT. The reduction is blamed on the alternate bearing phenomenon in the São Paulo citrus belt, along with warm temperatures and below-average rainfall after the first two blooms and fruit set.
Production in China is projected slightly upward to 7.3 MMT due to favorable weather.
European Union production is expected to drop 9 percent to 6.2 million tons due to unfavorable weather that affected flowering and fruit set.
United States production is estimated to be down 5 percent to 4.7 million tons. Orange production in Florida has been trending down for years due to HLB, with production less than one-third what it was 20 years ago.
Production in Egypt is estimated to decrease 17 percent to 3 MMT because strong winds and high temperatures affected flowering and fruit set.
High temperatures and drought in Mexico are estimated to cut the orange crop almost in half this year as production drops to 2.5 million tons. This would be the lowest harvest since the early 1990s. Oranges have been especially hard hit by the unfavorable weather because many orange trees are older and require more water to produce fruit.
Production in Turkey is estimated to drop 11 percent to 1.7 MMT due to hot weather conditions in May 2019 that negatively affected bloom.
Orange production in South Africa is expected to be flat at 1.6 MMT with normal weather conditions.
Production in Morocco is estimated to decline nearly one-third to 806,000 tons due to water shortages and unfavorable weather.
See the full Foreign Agricultural Service report on world production of oranges and other citrus varieties here.
See the final crop forecast of the 2019-20 season for U.S. citrus-producing states.
Source: USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service
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