Florida citrus

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has this week said that its estimate of the 2014/15 Florida orange crop decreased 5.6m boxes on its previous forecast, down to 96.4m boxes.

While early-mid varieties increased slightly to 47.4m boxes, Valencia oranges dipped 6m boxes to 49m boxes.

'There is no doubt about it, we are certainly in challenging times,' said Michael Sparks, executive vice-president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. 'This decrease is not a surprise from what we've been hearing out in the field. I would expect this kind of drop to put upward pressure on grower returns and that's a silver lining.

'The good news is we continue to produce the best citrus in the world even faced with the current pest and disease pressure, he added.

During the 2013-2014 season, Florida produced 104m boxes of oranges.

The USDA's estimate of the season's Florida grapefruit crop dropped to 12.9m boxes from 13m, while specialty citrus stayed at 3m boxes.