Florida citrus

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has revealed that its estimate for the 2014/15 Florida orange crop has remained steady at 102m boxes.

Early-mid varieties stayed at 47m boxes while Valencia oranges held steady at 55m boxes.

'Well the positive news is the orange crop estimate remained stable and that's a good thing,' said Michael Sparks, executive vice-president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. 'We still have more than two months left in the season so let's hope our late varieties continue to hold up and we don't lose any more fruit.

'Even in these challenging times Florida growers produce the best citrus in the world,' he added.

The USDA makes its initial estimate in October of each year and revises it monthly as the crop takes shape until the end of the season in July. During the 2013/14 season, Florida produced 104m boxes of oranges.

The USDA's estimate of the 2014/15 Florida grapefruit crop dropped from 15m boxes to 13m boxes, while specialty citrus decreased slightly to 3m boxes.