Texas citrus shipments underway

Most Texas citrus packinghouses were in production by the middle of October, and volume of oranges and grapefruit from the Lone Star State was starting to increase.

 

 

"We started oranges yesterday and started grapefruit one day last week," Mike Martin, president of Rio Queen Citrus Inc. in Mission, TX, said Oct. 20. "We are about a week later than last year just like everyone else. I think just about all the sheds are operating now or will be opening up in the next couple of days."

 

 

He said that volume typically climbs slowly but steadily through November until the Thanksgiving holiday, and then moves into peak volume after that. "Thanksgiving isn't a big citrus holiday, but Christmas is," he said.

 

 

The hot dry summer was the cause of the delay in maturity of the oranges and grapefruit, according to Mr. Martin. "Sugar was high, but the juices weren't where they should be. But we had some good rain in September which brought the juice content up," he added.

 

 

As would be expected, Mr. Martin said that early movement is good and prices are "seasonally correct." He added, "Prices [on grapefruit] are in the teens with the big fruit selling in the low 20s." He said that the start of the season typically commands a pretty good price as there is not a lot of fruit competition for the retail shelf. Most of the summer fruit volume has been cleaned up, and retailers are happy to start stocking grapefruit.

 

 

Mr. Martin expects total citrus volume from Texas to be on par with previous seasons, which means a crop of about 10 million cartons on a close to 75-25 split with the state's signature red grapefruit representing the larger percentage number. "Early on some were predicting a crop slightly down, and the USDA estimated a 4 percent decline, but I think it will pack out at about the same as last year," he said.

 

 

It is very difficult to judge the total size of the crop before packing begins, which is when the 4 percent decline figure was released, according to Mr. Martin. "Every grove is different," he said. Since we started packing, we have noted that the fruit is a little bit larger than we expected (which will increase total volume on a carton basis), and it is also a lot cleaner than last year (which means fewer culls). Last year we had Hurricane Dolly come through here in the summer followed by lots of rain. That resulted in some scarring that we just don't have this year."