Orange Production Drops Because of California

For a change, the latest drop in USDA's monthly orange crop production forecast is not because of the Florida crop.

"For this month, it is unchanged for our Valencias and our non-Valencias," said USDA Florida State Statistician Mark Hudson.

Hudson added the non-Valencia harvest is nearly complete, so the forecast of 19 million boxes is solid.  The Valencia harvest has just started and has a forecast of 26 million boxes which is the same as last month, however compared to expected totals to a year ago.

The three culprits are freezes, hurricanes and citrus greening.  USDA said California orange production will be down 12% from a year ago, putting total projected U-S orange production down 35% from last year.

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