Oranges
Valencias Oranges
Fruit will be from the District 1 region (Fresno/Delano/Terra Bella/Bakersfield) of California for the primary shipping locations. California Valencia oranges will be harvested until end of September with storage Valencia oranges extending to end of October. Smaller fruit continues to rise in price and availability is extremely tight. Back-to-School time is driving the demand through the roof on the smaller sizing. Fruit quality remains excellent but come the end of September the quality will start to decline. The larger sized fruit of the 72/56 counts are plentiful and are priced aggressively.
Navel Oranges
Fruit will be from Chile and South Africa. Fruit availability is more abundant now as we are in peak season for navels. Sizing is primarily 88 and 105 counts. Look for the market to stay steady throughout the rest of the season. The season will wrap at the end of September when we then transition to the Midknight Valencia. Navels are very promotable on smaller sizes.
Lemons
Fruit will be from Argentina (loading in the Northeast), and Mexico (loading in Texas). Mexican fruit is down roughly 40% to 45% year over year. This is due to the lack of rain in the region, which is also resulting in very little volume on larger sized fruit (75/95 counts). Quality in Mexico is starting off strong with clean fruit. Chile stopped large arrivals on both coasts due to the depressed pricing. Growers were unwilling to take the gamble this season. Most of the Chilean fruit is sizing 115 to 200 count, which is not helping the supply of larger fruit. Argentina stopped shipments last week with their season at an end. As a result of larger fruit becoming scarce, look for California District 3 to start up earlier this year. The market on 75-115 count is very snug, with 140-200 count being up slightly, but staying steady.
Grapefruit
Fruit will be out of South Africa and California. The South African fruit is far superior compared to the California Marsh Ruby variety. Smaller import grapefruit is in abundance compared to the larger fruit. The larger fruit is failing juice testing requirements for the U.S. Growers and agronomists were flown in to find a reason. Florida grapefruit is expected to start the middle of October.
Mandarins
Fruit will be out of Peru, Uruguay, Chile, and South Africa. The only difference will be what varietal we will see at different times. The market is aggressive currently on all sizes and packs but look for this to turn the back half of September. The fruit expected at that time will be sizing primarily in the 36/40 size which is undesirable to major retailers. The 32 size and larger will become a premium for packs and will become very snug to finish out the import deal until California and Morocco start.