Coca-Cola officials said that the Florida Citrus Commission is working on an economic study centered on the company's investment, and that a preliminary draft shows that over the course of 25 years the expansion will add more than $10.5 billion — or $422 million per year — to Florida's economy. Company officials said Coca-Cola buys a third of all Florida oranges.
Coca-Cola reported its first-quarter results in mid-April; they topped Wall Street expectations as sales volume rose in emerging markets. Shares of Coca-Cola Co. rose nearly 6 percent to $42.37 and touched their highest point since the late 1990s.
Cahillane said the company also purchases juice from Brazil, Florida's biggest competitor in the juice industry. He said different harvest times in each location allow the company to give customers "consistent, great-tasting juice." About 90 percent of Florida's oranges are used for juice; by contrast, the majority of California's orange crop is sold as fresh fruit. Florida is second in the world for orange juice production, behind Brazil.
Jose Luis Cutrale, the chief executive officer of Cutrale Citrus Juices, spoke at Tuesday's announcement and is considered the patriarch of the Brazilian juice industry. He owns one of the biggest juice companies in the world.
"We are going to do more juice and sell more juice," he said. "People need it."
Under the program, Cutrale and Peace River Citrus will each plant 12,500 acres. Coca-Cola will buy the fruit.
Bill Becker, president of Peace River Citrus Products in Vero Beach, is one of the growers. He said the new trees will be planted on land that once held citrus groves or are currently idle.
"It's a big help to the entire industry and to the state, for that matter," said Becker, adding that the research being done in Florida about the deadly citrus greening disease has bolstered the company's confidence in the long-term health of the state's citrus industry.
Becker said he hopes that Coca-Cola's investment will reverse the trend of declining citrus acreage in Florida.
The state's citrus crop suffered huge losses this past season due to warm, dry weather, too much fruit on each tree and citrus greening disease.
According to the Florida Citrus Mutual, the citrus industry directly and indirectly contributes some 76,000 jobs in Florida and is a $10 billion industry.
