Citrus industry leaders were not surprised that the November U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast for citrus remained unchanged for the season. The estimate has Florida's orange crop producing 168 million boxes, up from the 129 million boxes filled in the recent season. Meanwhile the grapefruit crop is projected at 25 million boxes, which is down 8 percent from 27.2 million last season.

This year's crop levels will elevate orange juice production by 27 percent, while grapefruit juice will decrease by 16 percent. The yield for frozen concentrate orange juice is expected to be 1.6 gallons per 90-pound box.

"The December report will reflect a true revaluation," said Jim Ewing, deputy director for the USDA National Agricultural statistic service Florida Field Office in Orlando. "Based on what we're hearing and seeing, it's going to be a good production year because last year's production was off significantly."

Ewing said the grapefruit harvest started off slowly because of high acids and late maturity. Also, low rainfall levels may have affected local crops during the late summer and early fall months.

"The weather conditions were very dry," Ewing said. "Rainfall was well below average in the central and south areas. There was a little more rain in October, but there were still dry weather conditions." Andrew Meadows, a spokesman for the Florida Citrus Mutual agreed.

"Everyone is aware that we're in the middle of a drought and we could use a little more rain, but even with the scarcity of it the fruit is sizing up well," Meadows said. "We've all heard good things about grapefruit especially from (the Treasure Coast) region, it's turning out to be a high quality crop." Doug Bournique, executive director of the Indian River Citrus League, echoed those comments.

Source: tcpalm.com