The passage of the hurricane Milton should further reduce an orange harvest which was already looking disastrous in Florida, which contributes to a new surge in prices.
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Milton has particularly affected Central Florida, including Polk, Hardee, DeSoto and Highlands counties, which are among the largest orange producers in the state.
“Farmers are in the orchards and trying to get an idea of the damage,” Matt Joyner, director of the Florida Citrus Mutual, the professional organization for citrus producers in the state, told AFP.
“We are observing a significant number of fruits that have fallen to the ground,” reports the manager.
Photo Getty Images / AFP
“When a tree has been hit and the stems shaken by the wind,” explains Matt Joyner, “we know that it sometimes takes up to two weeks to assess the impact on the ability of the fruit to hold.”
He recalls that equivalent meteorological phenomena have already caused losses of more than 60% in the past.
The consequences of Milton will only make an already very difficult situation in Florida worse.
Photo MEGA/WENN
According to figures released Friday by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the estimated harvest before the passage of the hurricane was down 16% compared to the previous one and 84% in 10 years.
Florida oranges continue to suffer from so-called yellow dragon disease, for which there is no treatment. Also called Huanglongbing disease (HLB), it can disrupt the ripening of citrus fruits and cause premature fruit drop.
Photo MEGA/WENN
According to the USDA, the number of fruits per tree for Valencia oranges, the variety most used for juice, has fallen to its lowest level since the 1964-1965 campaign.
“If we take into account Milton and tornadoes, production will be the lowest since the 1920s, anticipates Judy Ganes, specialist analyst at J. Ganes Consulting.
Photo AFP
On Wednesday, the futures contract for frozen concentrated orange juice, the wholesale market benchmark, gained 0.97%, to $5.014 per pound (around 450 g).
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, it has quintupled. At current prices, a liter of concentrated orange juice is worth several times its equivalent in gasoline.
Even at these price levels, many Florida producers give up due to lack of sufficient yield due to HLB, according to Judy Ganes, and prefer to sell their land to real estate developers, which further reduces production.
