Supplies of California citrus are plentiful right now. “The fruit is big so it’s plentiful in large fruit and very very tight, limited supplies on small fruit--88s and smaller,” says Jim Saavedra of Cecelia Packing Corp.

Right now in citrus, the grower-shipper is shipping navels, heirloom navels, Cara Caras, Blood oranges and it will soon start minneolas. “The season is all over the board,” says Saavedra. “Mostly, the season was delayed but then certain varieties pulled forward. Even though the season was delayed, we expect it to end earlier this year because of the lack of fruit on the backside. There seems to be less fruit in the late navels in particular.” While the company usually ends in May-June (the industry often goes longer into August or September), this season Cecelia Packing is anticipated to finish up sometime in April.

More rain coming
Meanwhile, California has seen some sizable rains recently which is delaying harvesting so growers have been working to try and pick ahead of the rain. However recent warmer temperatures could bring another set of hurdles with quality and fruit drop. “A lot of negative things happen when you have this kind of moisture in 74 degrees,” Saavedra says.

As for demand, it’s steady though not as strong as last year--on navels and Cara Caras particularly-- though the split market between sizes is adding to that dynamic. “If you have a lot of small fruit, you’re probably pretty happy. If you have a lot of big fruit, you’re not as happy,” says Saavedra. However, the demand for Blood oranges is steady and stronger.

Not surprisingly, this is leaving pricing on small fruit stronger and large fruit softer while Blood orange pricing is stronger than last season.

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com