The latest production report by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has pegged this season's Florida orange crop at 159.6m boxes, an increase of 2m boxes on the previous month.
The rise is solely down to an increase in the Valencia forecast, which is now estimated at 75m boxes instead of the 73m boxes predicted in May, while early and mid-season varieties are final at 84.6m boxes.
'The season is coming to a close and this is another quality crop produced by Florida citrus growers,' said Michael Sparks, executive vice-president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. 'Thank goodness we received some rain over the last month which will help us heading into next season.'
Meanwhile, the USDA reduced its Florida grapefruit projection by 700,000 boxes to 21.8m boxes for the season, mainly as a result of a 400,000 coloured grapefruit box change, while white grapefruit also fell 300,000 boxes.
Specialty fruit grown in the state saw no change, the USDA said, with tangelos holding steady at 1.15m boxes and tangerines at 3.9m boxes.
Florida produced 170.2m boxes of oranges during the 2007/08 campaign, with the industry having a US$9.3bn annual economic impact.
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