GEN orange closeup

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Friday (10 July) pegged its final tally of the 2014/15 Florida orange crop at 96.7m boxes.

The figure represents a slight increase from the June estimate, but a fall from last year's final total of 104m boxes of oranges.

Early-mid varieties held steady at 47.4m boxes, while Valencia oranges rose 300,000 boxes to 49m on the previous month.

'It's nice to have a bit of stability on this final number from the USDA,' said Michael Sparks, executive vice-president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. 'Because we all know what an up and down year it's been fighting HLB and all of the market issues.

'Next year's crop is already on the tree and although I expect a season again filled with challenges, we have a lot to be optimistic about,' he added. 'The Florida citrus grower and all of the tremendous products we produce are here to stay.'

The USDA's final total of the 2014/15 Florida grapefruit crop was 12.95m boxes, and specialty citrus stayed close to 3m boxes.