U.S. Orange Crop Shrinks

WASHINGTON - Mar 8/13 - SNS -- This season's orange crop is expected to be down 4% from last year at a forecast 8.68 million tons, according to the USDA's latest crop report.

The Florida all orange forecast, at 139 million boxes (6.26 million tons), is down 1% from the February forecast and down 5% from last season's final utilization. Early, midseason, and Navel varieties in Florida are forecast at 67.0 million boxes (3.02 million tons), up 2% from the February forecast but down 10% from last season. This increase was based on utilization data as of March 1. The Florida Valencia orange forecast, at 72.0 million boxes (3.24 million tons), is down 4% from the February forecast due to a sharp increase in droppage.

The California Valencia orange forecast is 12.5 million boxes (500,000 tons), down 4% from the previous forecast. This brings California's all orange forecast to 59.0 million boxes (2.36 million tons), down 1% from the January forecast. Objective survey measurements taken during January and February indicated that fruit set per tree was higher than the previous year, but measured average fruit size was smaller than the previous year. The forecast for Texas is carried forward from January.