Domestic citrus competes with imported fruit

Hardly a day goes by anymore without a reference to the global economy popping up somewhere.

 

It’s a reality that affects just about every business one way or another, including the U.S. citrus industry. Citrus marketers say this new global economy — characterized in part by offshore fruit imports — can affect them in several ways.

 

A challenge arises when peaches and other tree fruit from Chile compete with domestic citrus during the winter, said Roy Bell, general manager of Cal Citrus Packing Co., Lindsay, Calif.

 

Navel oranges from places like Australia and New Zealand have diluted the late-season push on California valencias in late summer and also can affect the early Navel deal, said Steve Nelsen, managing partner in Valhalla Sales & Marketing Co., Kingsburg, Calif.

 

“You lose a lot of your punch” when offshore product makes fruit available year-round, eliminating the seasonality of the domestic deal, said Keith Wilson, vice president of sales and marketing for Sunny Cove Citrus LLC, Orange Cove, Calif.

 

But for others, competition from offshore fruit doesn’t pose a problem.

“I don’t see the competition that we’ve had changing in any way that would cause an impact,” said David Krause, president of Paramount Citrus Association Inc., Delano, Calif.

 

Chilean tree fruit takes up retail shelf space that could be devoted to California citrus, Bell said.

 

Before peaches came up from South America, domestic apples, bananas and oranges had the fruit category to themselves during the winter, he said.

 

But Bell admitted that the industry itself is at least partly responsible for the dilemma because U.S. grower-shippers wanted access to offshore markets.

 

With more offshore product, “You’re losing the back end of the Valencia deal,” Nelsen said.

“The dynamics of September, October and early November are definitely changing,” he said.

 

Marc Solomon, president of Montreal-based Fisher Capespan LLC, an importer of citrus from South Africa, Chile and Peru and grapes and tree fruit from Chile, said U.S. citrus grower-shippers have nothing to worry about from a competition standpoint.