Little Overall Change in Citrus Forecast

WASHINGTON - Apr 9/15 - SNS -- There was little overall change in this year's citrus fruit harvest forecast, with a modest increase in the size of the organe crop offsetting reductions in the grapefruit forecast

The USDA inched up this year's prodction estimate for oranges, pegging it closer to 6.68 million tons, down 1% from the revised 2013-2014 final utilization.

The 2014-2015 United States grapefruit crop is forecast at 985,000 tons, down 5% from last month's forecast and down 6% from last season's revised final utilization. In Florida, the row count survey conducted March 31-April 1 indicated 92% of the colored grapefruit was harvested, while 70% of the white grapefruit rows had been harvested.

The United States tangerine and mandarin crop is forecast at 758,000 tons, up 1% from the March forecast and up 3% from last season's revised final utilization. In California, mandarins were being packed in both the Central Valley and Fillmore areas. In Florida, harvest of early season varieties (Fallglo and Sunburst) was complete for the season, while the harvest of the Honey tangerine continued at a normal pace.

The forecast for the 2014-2015 United States lemon crop is 886,000 tons, up 8% from last season's revised final utilization. In California, lemon harvest was progressing at a steady pace.

Florida's tangelo forecast is 700,000 boxes (32,000 tons), unchanged from last month's forecast but down 20% from last season's final utilization. The harvest in Florida is now complete, where production is the lowest since the 1960-1961 season.