The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released its final orange crop estimate for the 2008/09 season, and have raised it up by 2.5m boxes to 162.1m boxes.
The alteration to the crop, which is down slightly on 2007/08's total of 170.2m boxes, is a result of a boost in estimated Valencia volumes to 77.5m boxes. Early and mid-season varieties are final at 84.6m boxes, according to the USDA.
As part of the forecast, the USDA reduced the Florida grapefruit projection by 100,000 boxes to 21.7m, with coloured grapefruit staying at 15.1m boxes and white grapefruit down to 6.6m boxes.
Florida specialty fruit held steady with tangelos at 1.15m boxes and tangerines at 3.9m boxes.
'Another Florida citrus season is over and once again Florida growers produced a high-quality crop,' said Michael Sparks, executive vice-president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. 'We are certainly facing some challenges as an industry but we remain a powerful economic engine supporting many communities, particularly in Florida's interior.
'With the overall economy sagging, citrus – and agriculture in general – becomes even more important,' he added.
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