Citrus Australia has released its national crop forecast for 2013, reflecting a solid season for the industry and good export prospects.
The representative body anticipates that navel orange volumes will see a 12 per cent rise from 2012, although this is still down 20 per cent from the record year the industry experienced in 2009. This positive rise has been attributed to mild weather and late navel varieties planted between 2005 and 2008 coming into production.
The quality of the navel oranges is expected to be good and the fruit size average, with a large volume in the preferred size range of 72-88 counts.
Valencia orange volumes are expected to be reduced, particularly in the Riverina region, as a result of heavy hedging and late hanging of crops, which reduced flowering.
Despite the impact of the Queensland floods in January, mandarins are expected to register a slight volume increase this season. However, the ongoing impact of the floods is likely to increase minor skin blemishes of produce which is then categorised as second-grade fruit.
This season is the first in which Australia’s southern regions are anticipated to supersede Queensland in terms of mandarin production. Sunraysia and the Riverland regions are expected to produce 53,000 tonnes compared to Queensland’s forecast 46,000 tonnes.
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