Orange production in Brazil’s main cultivation region for the fruit is expected to jump 52% from last year’s poor harvest to 374 million boxes, helped by favourable rains in April and May.

According to a report by Brazil’s orange research body Fundecitrus, rainfall came at the right time in Sao Paulo state and in the Triangulo region in Minas Gerais, where most of the fruit processed in Brazil comes from.

The output projection is 2.6% higher than Fundecitrus’s first forecast, published in May. It also confirms data released by the local orange juice industry which points to a large crop that should boost juice production.

CitrusBR, the association representing Brazil’s orange juice industry, which leads global exports, expects a 72% jump in juice production in the 2017/18 crop year (July/June), to 1.2 million tonnes of frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ).

Fundecitrus said weather conditions favoured the production of larger fruits. Farmers on average will need 277 oranges to fill a box, compared with a previous estimate of 310 oranges.

Source: Reuters