US Florida grapefruit

The National Agricultural Statistics Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has projected a decrease for Florida orange and grapefruit production.

In an announcement on Tuesday (12 May) the USDA predicted Florida orange production at 69.65m boxes, a 350,000-box decrease over April’s forecast.

Florida grapefruit production, meanwhile, decreased from 5.2m to 4.9m boxes for the 2019/20 season.

“As we near the end of harvest, this is really a reconciliation of what has been utilised,' said Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus. 'We remain hopeful that the Valencia production will stay on par with current projections.”