U.S. Orange Crop Slips Back

WASHINGTON - Mar 10/15 - SNS -- The United States all orange forecast for the 2014-2015 season is 6.68 million tons, down 1% from the previous forecast and down 2% from the 2013-2014 final utilization, according to the USDA.

The Florida all orange forecast, at 102 million boxes (4.59 million tons), is down 1% from the previous forecast and down 2% from last season's final utilization.

Early, midseason, and Navel varieties in Florida are forecast at 47.0 million boxes (2.12 million tons), down 2% from the previous forecast and down 12% last season's final utilization. The Florida Valencia orange forecast, at 55.0 million boxes (2.48 million tons), is unchanged from previous forecast but up 7% from last season's final utilization.

The California Valencia orange forecast is 10.0 million boxes (400,000 tons), unchanged from previous forecast but down 9% from the previous season. This results in a California all orange forecast of 50.0 million boxes (2.00 million tons), unchanged from the January forecast. Objective survey measurements taken during January and February indicated that fruit set per tree was lower than the previous year and the lowest since 2009, but the measured average fruit size was slightly larger than the previous year. The forecast for Texas is carried forward from January.