Alico Citrus harvested 841,000 boxes of early- and mid-season (early/mid) oranges for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022. That’s a decrease of approximately 6.1% from the same period in the prior fiscal year. The company will complete harvesting of early/mid oranges in the current fiscal year. It said it will recognize an overall decrease in the number of early/mid boxes harvested and revenues generated compared to the prior year. The production decrease was due to the increased rate of fruit drop as a result of Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida in late September 2022.
Alico’s average realized/blended price per pound solids was $2.57 for the early/mids, down from $2.58 in the final three months of the prior year. The vast majority of the company’s fruit is processed.
Pound solids per box of early/mid oranges dipped to 4.64 in the last quarter of 2022, down 4.5% from the same period in the prior year.
The company anticipates market prices in the 2022–23 harvest season to be consistent with this past season’s market prices. That is largely due to low levels of inventory stocks at the juice processors and a tighter global supply of oranges.
“Hurricane Ian struck southwestern Florida with 150 mph winds,” said Alico, Inc. President and CEO John Kiernan. “The slow-moving storm moved across the state and caused substantial fruit drop at the majority of our groves. For fiscal year 2023, we will see lower levels of revenue because we have less fruit available to sell. Based upon our prior experiences with storms of this nature, we anticipate it may take up to two full seasons, or more, for our groves to recover to pre-hurricane production levels.”
“We will start the Valencia harvest in mid-February,” Kiernan added. “We maintain crop insurance and are working closely with our insurers and adjusters to determine the amount of insurance recovery we may be entitled to, if any, which is measured at the completion of each harvest.”
Kiernan said the company was able to “avoid any meaningful impact” from freezing temperatures in late December 2022 and early January 2023.
See the full press release about Alico’s financial results here.
Source: Alico, Inc.
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