European Union orange juice production is forecast to climb almost 8% in 2020-21 compared to the previous year, to 87,987 metric tonnes, the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service has reported. The forecast is in line with the expected growth in the volume of European oranges destined for processing this season, especially from Spain and Italy. Spain is the major orange processor in the union followed by Italy. About 20% of Spanish orange production is used in processing.

While OJ is the most popular juice within the EU, it competes with other non-alcoholic drinks and other fruit juices. In recent years, such competition has effectively reduced consumption of OJ in Europe. However, consumption is forecast to grow slightly in 2020-21 as the result of increased domestic supplies and growing consumer interest for immune-strengthening products following the COVID-19 crisis.

The EU is a net importer of OJ. However, during the last decade, imports of the juice declined by 17% due to the growth in domestic production and the downward trend of OJ consumption. During 2019-20, imports of the juice grew by 4% to stand at 686,223 metric tonnes.

Brazil is by far the leading supplier of OJ to the EU market, representing nearly 91% of total imports, followed by Mexico, South Africa and Argentina. The United States used to be the third largest OJ supplier to the union, but imports of the US juice have declined since 2018. In 2019-20, the value of EU imports of US OJ dropped 27% to USD2 million due to lower US production, increased competition and European retaliatory tariffs on the US juice. In the past decade, EU exports increased by 45%. In 2019-20, the union exported 66,805 metric tonnes of OJ. CitrusIndustry

The third production estimates for the Brazilian citrus belt (São Paulo and the Triângulo Mineiro) in the 2020/21 season, released by Fundecitrus, February 10, indicates that orange supply should total 269.01 million boxes of 40.8-kilograms each. This volume is 6.52% lower than that initially estimated and 30.45% below that in the previous season. This is also the worst annual decrease in all times.

As low supply has been confirmed, orange prices continue firm in the Brazilian market. According to Fundecitrus estimates, 81% of the fruits had been harvested up to mid-January. The harvesting of pear oranges has reached 82% of the volume forecast, and for the late varieties (valencia, folha murcha and natal), 75%.

According to Fundecitrus, the biennial production cycle and the unfavourable weather (drought and high temperatures) in the second semester of 2019 (flowering) and 2020 (fruit-filling stage) led to the current crop failure. The report from Fundecitrus also points that, although rainfall was higher in the citrus belt in December 2020 (8% up from the average), it was lower, irregular and short in January, due to the La Niña phenomenon.

This is why the average weight of the oranges harvested was lower – usually, 261 fruits fill up a box, meaning that each orange should weight 156 grams, 8% down from the average of the last five crops. Cepea

Schweppes Holdings Africa Limited’s subsidiary, Sunrise Citrus Estates, intends to establish a 2,700 hectare citrus plantation in Beitbridge with the project expected to create thousands of jobs across the value chain. It is also envisaged that the proposed project will add impetus to Zimbabwe’s exports growth. An Environmental Impact Assessment is already underway.

In a joint statement, Sunrise Citrus Estates and African Sustainability Consultants said: “Sunrise Citrus Estates proposes to establish a citrus plantation in Beitbridge, Zimbabwe. The 2,700ha citrus plantation will create employment for local communities. The implementation of the project will enable the processing of juice for local and international markets as well as export of raw fruit.”

Recently, Schweppes Zimbabwe announced 100% acquisition of Beitbridge Juicing Company in a vertical integration move that saw the beverage producer strengthening its supply chain by taking control of a key raw material in the form of orange juice concentrate. At the time of the acquisition, BBJ supplied Schweppes Zimbabwe with 75% of the company’s orange juice requirements for Mazoe Orange Crush while the remainder is imported from South Africa.

Through the acquisition, it was hoped that the move would improve capacity utilisation at BBJ to enable Schweppes Zimbabwe obtain 100% of its juice, which is a key raw material for Mazoe Orange Crush, locally. The company is headquartered in Harare and the production plant is in Beitbridge close to the raw material which is oranges. Chronical.co.zw

Farmers and ranchers in the US south continue to assess the damage following the record-setting and deadly Arctic blast. Texas State agricultural officials say the cost of this storm will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“Just our citrus industry, their loss of just the fruit, not including damage to trees, is over USD300 million and it will put a lot of our citrus growers out of business,” said Sid Miller, commissioner of agriculture in Texas. “Dairymen are going to go bankrupt and some of our poultry farmers, but this all could have been avoided.” The straight-talking Miller lamented over not just the arctic air’s disastrous impact on fruits, vegetables and livestock, but also the State’s own hand in worsening the crisis by not prioritizing agricultural processors.

He said his request to add agricultural processors to the critical infrastructure list still hasn’t been answered by Governor Greg Abbott, R-Texas. The State’s dairy industry has been particularly impacted as processors have gone without the power or natural gas needed to keep running.

Meanwhile, in South Texas, fruits and vegetables were already planted in the ground and on the tree. “You don’t ever think about a freeze in the Rio Grande Valley, but our citrus crop is basically wiped out,” said Miller. “All of our oranges are gone and 60% of our grapefruit.”  He says the other 40% would still be good enough to squeeze for juice but the processing plants that do it don’t have power.  He expects it will take three to four weeks to survey the damage and get a final tally, although the true impact may take longer to figure out. Drovers.com

Leo Espinosa, Sales Director, of Rio Grande Juice commented: “Remember that we just came from another event last Summer when Hurricane Hannah impacted the Texas Citrus Region, after the hurricane we lost about 30% of the Citrus crop, so this new freeze came to worsen the current conditions. We still don’t know yet about the impact of the freeze on next year crop, there will be for sure less fruit available due to the effect, however we still don’t know for sure how many trees were lost due to the freeze, more information can be confirmed within the next weeks to come.

“Customers have been supportive & thankfully we face this year with a favorable juice concentrate inventory scenario, however we don’t know for next year how our inventory levels position will be in the case we face a low crop and therefore a low processing season. I am sure there will be some sort of government support for the Texas citrus growers but nothing yet confirmed.”