US: Winter orange crop to challenge all-time high

The upcoming 2007-2008 citrus season should be a good one, Florida Citrus Mutual said last week.The prediction comes on the heels of an early private estimate of the orange crop that said next year's crop would be 198 million boxes. That includes 98.6 million boxes of Early/Mids, 3.3 million boxes of Navels and 96.1 million boxes of Valencias. The new estimate reflects a 55 percent increase over last year's crop of 128.9 million boxes."We need to rebuild orange juice inventories, which are at extremely low levels," said Michael Sparks, executive vice president/chief executive officer of Florida Citrus Mutual, in a release. "So a larger crop is manageable, however, we'll be surprised if it hits 198 million boxes."Sparks said an upcoming citrus tree census could significantly alter perceptions of the orange production landscape. He also noted that most growers are reporting very high fruit counts per tree and there has been a lot of concern about size.The U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to issue a 2007 tree census update based on seven citrus-producing -- Polk, DeSoto, Collier, Hendry, Lee, Indian River and Martin -- on Sept. 14.Sparks said even with a larger crop he still expects growers to get high returns, however they may not reach the levels of '06-'07."Last year we had historic highs, and I don't think we'll see two seasons in a row with those numbers," he said. "But returns will still be good and will help growers offset the increased production costs associated with fuel prices, scouting, and pest and disease control."The USDA's initial citrus crop estimate is scheduled for Oct. 12.
Source: bizjournals.com
Publication date: 8/21/2007