Citrus greening disease in Florida has once again limited the volume of grapefruit the state's growers will ship this season. With less fruit to go around, the season will once again end sooner than the previous season did.
“We'll finish packing around week 11,” noted Paul Genke of The Packers of Indian River. “That's about 10 days earlier than last season, which ended 10 days earlier than the season before that.” Production has continued to decrease every season since citrus greening began hitting the state's citrus industry.
The latest citrus forecast predicts the state's grapefruit production will reach 10.5 million boxes, which is almost 20 percent lighter than the previous season's production of 12.9 million boxes. When production is lighter, the season wraps up sooner.
“Prices are up because volumes are down,” said Genke. “Domestically, they're up from last season, but I think they're as high as they can go on the international market.” With more competition from European growers, the Asian market has become more important.
“The biggest market for us, personally, is the Asian market,” said Genke. “Japan and Korea are two good markets for us. We still go to Europe, but business has dropped there because of competition from cheaper Mediterranean product.”
