Brazil’s Fundecitrus recently released the orange tree inventory of the São Paulo and west-southwest Minas Gerais Citrus Belt. Fundecitrus conducted the inventory in March.
Orange orchards occupy 410,974 hectares, an increase of 1.4% from the previous year. Out of this total, the main orange varieties account for 400,260 hectares. The remaining varieties, primarily destined for the fresh fruit market, occupy 10,714 hectares.
LEADING VARIETIES
Pera is the predominant variety with approximately 78.5 million of the 212.37 million total trees in the Citrus Belt. Other leading orange varieties are Valencia (approximately 54 million trees) and Hamlin (approximately 25.6 million trees).
The Citrus Belt contains 49.13 million trees of early-season varieties, typically harvested between May and August. Mid-season varieties, harvested between July and October, stand at 78.57 million trees. Late-season varieties account for 84.67 million trees, which are harvested predominantly between October and January.
AGE AND DENSITY
The average age of mature orchards is 11.8 years. Most trees in the Citrus Belt are concentrated in orchards older than 10 years.
The overall orchard density in the current inventory is 531 trees per hectare.
Young orchards in the establishment phase exhibit higher average densities than mature orchards, with 614 trees per hectare in plantings established in 2024 and 626 trees per hectare in those established in 2025. That results in an average of 620 trees per hectare for young orchards.
In contrast, mature orchards have an average density of 522 trees per hectare.
IRRIGATION AND EXPANSION
Irrigated orchards account for 50.23% of the orange-growing area in the Citrus Belt, approximately five percentage points higher than in the previous inventory.
In addition to plantings within the Citrus Belt, there is growing evidence of the expansion of citrus cultivation into new areas. This is reflected in the continued establishment of orchards in bordering regions and outside of the Citrus Belt.
This trend represents a strategy adopted by growers to reduce the risk of greening infection in newly established orchards, since preventing the spread of greening becomes more challenging in areas with high disease pressure.
See the full inventory, which also includes Brazil’s 2026–27 crop forecast, here.
Source: Fundecitrus
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