A recent report recapped Florida citrus production and exports in the 2023–24 season. The summary, Florida Citrus Statistics 2023–2024, was published by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Division of Fruits and Vegetables. The production statistics for Florida are official estimates of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service.
THE BREAKDOWN
Oranges constituted 89% of the state’s citrus production, grapefruit accounted for 9%, and tangerines and tangelos represented 2%.
Florida produced 20.2 million boxes of citrus in 2023–24, up 12% from the previous season’s 18.1 million boxes.
Florida’s orange production, at 18 million boxes, was up 14% from the previous season.
Grapefruit utilization in Florida, at 1.79 million boxes, was down 1%.
Tangerine and tangelo production was down 6%.
Florida was the United States’ second-largest citrus producer in 2023–24, producing 17% of the country’s citrus. California was by far the largest producer at 79%. Texas and Arizona together produced the remaining 4%.
BY COUNTY
The top five Florida citrus-producing counties in 2023–24 were Polk (3.86 million boxes), DeSoto (3.14 million boxes), Highlands (2.79 million boxes), Hendry (2.37 million boxes) and Hardee (2.27 million boxes). Together, they accounted for 71% of the state’s total citrus production.
Production in other Florida counties in 2023–24 was:
- St. Lucie: 2.1 million boxes
- Collier: 1.2 million boxes
- Indian River: 709,000 boxes
- Charlotte: 396,000 boxes
- Lake: 342,000 boxes
- Osceola: 213,000 boxes
- Manatee: 169,000 boxes
- Okeechobee: 143,000 boxes
- Glades: 103,000 boxes
- Lee: 82,000 boxes
- Hillsborough: 51,000 boxes
- Pasco: 41,000 boxes
- Sarasota: 30,000 boxes
- Brevard: 28,000 boxes
- Volusia: 24,000 boxes
- Marion: 22,000 boxes
- Orange: 15,000 boxes
- Seminole: 9,000 boxes
- Other (Citrus, Hernando and Putnam): 19,000 boxes
EXPORTS DOWN
Fresh fruit exports totaled 395,000 four-fifth-bushel cartons, down from 467,000 in 2022–23. Belgium received most of Florida’s grapefruit exports.
Canada accounted for most of Florida’s orange and tangerine exports.
A total of 1.75 million gallons of frozen concentrated orange juice were exported in the 2023–24 season.
Source: FDACS
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