South Texas grapefruit and orange shipments have started withh expectations of a fresh crop for 2024-25 of 2.5 million cartons of grapefruit, 1 million cartons of early oranges and 500,000 cartons of late oranges.
Trade association Texas Citrus Mutual of Mission, TX sees of a similar volume compared to last year, with the condition of the fruit looking strong. Fruit quality has been great in the first few weeks of harvest.
In the 2023-24 season, USDA shipment figures indicate Texas fresh grapefruit shipments of 2.317 million 40-pound cartons and fresh orange shipments of 1.627 million 40-pound cartons.
The Texas citrus harvest should be finished by April.
Despite challenges including freezes, hurricanes and drought, assurances of water deliveries could encourage growers to plant more citrus in future years, the association reports.
Texas grapefruit harvested acreage in 2023 totaled 9,000, according to the Texas Agricultural Statistics Service. Yields of grapefruit were estimated at 250 boxes per acre, with an overall on-tree return of $20.93 per box. The value of both fresh and processed fruit was $50.5 million. Of utilized production of 90,000 tons, fresh accounted for 50,000 tons and processing uses accounted for 40,000 tons.
Texas orange harvested acreage in 2023 totaled 6,100, generating 48,000 tons of utilized production. Fresh market orange utilization was 35,000 tons, compared with just 12,000 tons for processing. The overall value of the Texas orange crop in 2023 was $14.8 million, with yields of 185 boxes per acre. The on-tree equivalent for orange prices was $11.30 per box, according to the Texas Agricultural Statistics Service.