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Florida Citrus Mutual Optimistic Heading into ’07-’08 Season

LAKELAND, Fla. (August 16, 2007) – Florida Citrus Mutual said Thursday it is optimistic the 2007-2008 citrus season will be a good one for the state’s growers.

The announcement comes on the heels of an early private estimate issued this week that pegged Florida’s orange crop at 198 million boxes – 98.6 million boxes of Early/Mids, 3.3 million boxes Navels and 96.1 million boxes of Valencias. If realized, that would be a 55 percent increase over last year’s orange crop.

“We need to rebuild orange juice inventories which are at extremely low levels,” said Michael W. Sparks, executive vice president/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. “So a larger crop is manageable, however, we’ll be surprised if it hits 198 million boxes.”

Sparks said an upcoming citrus tree census could significantly alter perceptions of the orange production landscape. He also noted that most growers are reporting very high fruit counts per tree and there has been a lot of concern about size.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is scheduled to issue a 2007 Tree Census Update based on seven citrus producing counties on September 14, 2007 at 1:30 pm. The census will cover DeSoto, Polk, Collier, Hendry, Lee, Indian River and Martin counties.

Sparks said even with a larger crop he still expects growers to get high returns, however they may not reach the levels of ’06-’07.

“Last year we had historic highs and I don’t think we’ll see two seasons in a row with those numbers,” he said. “But returns will still be good and will help growers offset the increased production costs associated with fuel prices, scouting and pest and disease control.”

The USDA’s initial citrus crop estimate is scheduled for October 12, 2007.

Florida Citrus Mutual, founded in 1948 and based in Lakeland, is the state’s largest citrus growers organization with more than 8,000 grower members. The Florida citrus industry employs 90,000 people and has a $9 billion economic impact. Please visit www.flcitrusmutual.com.

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