Smaller U.S. Citrus Crop

WASHINGTON - Dec 11/08 - SNS -- This season's citrus fruit production in the United States will be down from last year on account of smaller orange and grapefruit crops, according to the latest USDA crop production estimates.

The forecast of the 2008-09 U.S. grapefruit crop is 1.38 million tons, unchanged from the October 1 forecast but 12% lower than 2007-08 final utilization of 1.57 million tons. Florida's grapefruit production is forecast at 23.0 million boxes (978 million tons), unchanged from the October forecast but 14% below last season. Arizona, California, and Texas grapefruit production forecasts are carried over from the October forecast.

The Florida all white grapefruit forecast is 7.00 million boxes (298,000 tons), unchanged from October but down 22% from 2007-08 final utilization. The colored grapefruit forecast, at 16.0 million boxes (680,000 tons), is unchanged from the October 1 forecast but 9% lower than last season. If realized, this will be the lowest Florida grapefruit crop since the 1944-45 season, other than the hurricane-reduced 2004-05 and 2005-06 crops. Fruit growth for white grapefruit was higher than what was earlier forecasted. Size is near the maximum of the past eight non-hurricane seasons, while drop is only slightly higher than average. The overall quality of colored grapefruit was reported as very good, and 72% of the harvested fruit had been certified as fresh.

Florida's tangelo forecast is 1.50 million boxes (68,000 tons), unchanged from the October 1 forecast and equal to last season's final production. The size of the fruit this season is slightly above average but the drop rate is below average. As of December 1, approximately 6% of the crop had been harvested.

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