“There’s been a general shortage of citrus out of Morocco—there is about a 75 percent decrease in volume from last year,” says Michel Matouk of Cherry Hill, NJ-based World Fresh Produce, who brings in lemons, grapefruit, clementine, and oranges from Morocco into North America. The lack of production out of Morocco is blamed on a few factors, says Matouk. “First, there was a lack of water. Then, the temperature was higher than usual. But the major factor for the decrease in volume is due to last year’s season. There was an overproduction of 30-35 percent and the growers were unable to pick the increased volume from the trees promptly enough to avoid issues in this year’s harvest. This created shock to the trees and the consequence is less fruit with bigger calibers.” He adds that this situation particularly affected clementines and oranges. Adding to that challenging season for citrus imports is California. The state has seen ample citrus supplies and the lack of exporting California fruit following the Coronavirus has affected the Southeast Asian business by leaving more fruit on the domestic market and creating downward pressure on prices. Domestic customers are paying $8-$12.00 on domestic navels out of California which has created a difficult environment for citrus imports, says Matouk. (In fact, World Fresh has limited imported oranges this season for that very reason.) “Knowing the world market and making hard decisions is key in running a successful North American import business and for maximizing the return to the grower.” Sizing up The citrus sizes are peaking higher as well—particularly clementines, including Nadorcotts. “Last year we were on peak sizes of 2s, 3s, and 4s. This year the peak sizing is 1XX, 1X and 1,” says Matouk. He does add that the lack of low temperatures has also meant the fruit hasn’t colored up as much as it normally does. That said, the season, which began 4-5 weeks late, appears to be finishing 4-5 weeks early this year and World Fresh is waiting to hear when California will bring closure to its season. Matouk says it appears now that California will not have enough fruit to go until mid-May and it’s potentially a shortfall that could jeopardize the program business in California. All of this has means that current market demand is at low-to-moderate levels and that pricing is down by $2-$3 compared to last year. Source - https://www.freshplaza.com