Oranges
Valencias Oranges
Fruit will be from the district 1 region (Fresno/Delano/Terra Bella/Bakersfield) of California for the primary shipping locations. There are no callouts on variety for Valencia oranges as Valencia is the variety. Valencia oranges will be the go-to orange variety for the next month as California navels are completely done and import navels won't begin until mid-July out of South Africa and Chile. California Valencia oranges will be around until the end of September. Typically, the Valencia season carries until new crop navels begin, but this will be a challenge this year. This challenge was created due to the Valencia oranges shipping earlier to counteract the early end of the navel season. Quality is excellent with brix at an average of 12. The outer appearance is good and clean, but we will see a rougher, more pebbled skin on a Valencia compared to the smooth skin on a navel. Peak sizing of 113/88/138, in that order. One callout is that the crop is down slightly from last year from early crop estimates. The market will stay firm due to the high navel market.
Lemons
Fruit will be from the district 2 region (Filmore/Oxnard/Santa Paula). District 2 fruit began harvest in early May and will go through July. Peak sizing is 140/115/165 counts, in that order with 60% fancy and 40% choice. Import lemons out of Argentina are going strong! The market opened on the firmer side to start as a lot of the early fruit was sent to Europe because they have a stronger market currently than the United States. This is due to the increased volume of lemons out of California this year. We expect the market to come down over the next two weeks as more arrivals are expected, and the European market will slowly decline as more of their domestic lemons become available.
Grapefruit
Fruit will be out of the district 1 region (Bakersfield/Exeter) of California for shipping locations. Grapefruit is expected to be tight all season (through June) in the California district 1 region, with demand exceeding supplies. Quality on district 1 fruit is excellent with a 90% fancy and a 10% choice spilt. The brix range is 12 to 14. Interior is seeing a vibrant bright pink/red with the exterior seeing that touch of blush that consumers love. Grapefruit out of Michoacán, Mexico has started in a small way which should provide some relief to the California market. Peak supplies are expected to begin in July. In addition to supplies coming on out of Mexico in July, South African fruit is also expected to begin. First arrivals of South African grapefruit will be tentatively July 13th. **Important** South African fruit comes in a 15-kilogram box (roughly 33 pounds). This is important when comparing to the domestic fruit which is packed in a 40-pound box (average).
Mandarins
Fruit will be out of Peru and Uruguay for the next 2 weeks until South African fruit and Chilean fruit begin. Peru, Uruguay, South African, and Chilean fruit will all be going at the same time for June and July. The only callout difference will be what varietal we will see at different times. Currently, the best available variety is the Clemenule out of Peru/Uruguay. There are Peruvian Primisoles around, but the overall quality is poor. Overall, they will still be a good piece of fruit in terms of firmness and shelf life; however, the fruit generally eats very poorly and is a yellowish-orange color. The Primisoles do not peel very well and ultimately are undesirable by consumers. We suggest if you need to ship these, that you do so in a shipper label as opposed to a private label. One callout is arrivals out of Chile have been even slower than expected with transit times and lack of supply both affecting the amount of fruit we expect to receive over the next couple of weeks. As for shipments last week, Chile is down 62% year over year, with close to 60% of what's been shipped being size 36s and 40s. Expect the market to stay firm/high until July when supplies are expected to alleviate this issue once peak season begins.