Florida orange growers harvested 3.2 million boxes of Valencia oranges during the week ending Mar. 22, about the same volume as the previous week. Weather has been warmer than average and dry.

Processing pace appears to be about a week ahead of last season, due to good harvest progress, and pack during the first week of March was nearly 6.2 million ps.

Inventory as of Mar. 7 was 308.67 million pounds solids (ps), nearly the same as a month ago and up 17 percent YOY. As of the first week of March, inventory had yet to reflect the boost from late-season oranges.

FCOJ imports were down over 50 percent YOY for the four weeks ending Mar. 7 and notably lower than usual import volumes for this time of year as the industry was hesitant to add to stocks.

Cumulative 2019/20 movement was 136.59 million ps as of Mar. 7, down 7 percent YOY. Movement in domestic retail/institutional channels was up 1 percent YOY.

Years with bad influenza seasons show March sales generally holding steady from February, rather than continuing to decline, and it’s likely we will see that pattern this year.

Florida Valencia orange harvest pace


Source: USDA
Posted by: Information Services
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