The most recent Fundecitrus orange crop forecast for Brazil’s 2023/2024 season, published on May 10, 2023, estimates a production of 309.34 million boxes of oranges. This is not far from the previous crop season of 314.21 million boxes. The weight of oranges has improved this year, as well as the overall rains in the citrus belt. Fundecitrus estimates the crop will start sooner this year due to good conditions experienced during the flowering period.
2/10/23: Fundecitrus published its third orange crop forecast for the 2022-2023 season, indicating that overall production has increased 0.7% in Brazil’s São Paulo and West-Southwest Minas Gerais citrus belt.
1/5/23: Orange oil pricing remains largely unchanged in global markets. Mexico’s orange crop was quite good this year, and new material should enter the essential oils market by the end of January. Current orange harvest is focused on the production of NFC juice.
10/12/22: Production of orange oil continues to struggle to meet increased demand. Pricing has remained firm, and natural orange derivatives have also started to increase in price as a result.
9/9/22: Brazil has raised its prices for orange oil in anticipation of ICBC, which is scheduled to begin on 9/20/22. Due to the poor quality of the nation’s previous crop, Brazilian producers have agreed with multinationals to accept a 1.1% aldehyde standard, rather than the 1.2% standard from last year. This year’s Brazilian orange crop has been delayed, and the first varietals processed have had lower aldehyde content, which is typical. Aldehyde levels are expected to increase once Brazilian producers begin processing Valencia oranges, which will not begin until Q4 of this year.
7/13/22: The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released its final citrus forecast of the 2021/2022 growing season. In Florida, total orange production is expected to rise by 1%, reaching 40.95 million boxes. However, California estimates fell by around 2.3 million boxes; the state is expecting Valencia orange production to increase by 700,000 boxes, but non-Valencia production to fall by 3 million boxes.
6/7/22: New information regarding orange oil prices should be available in early Fall, 2022. We are currently observing near-record heights for the orange industry, and demand remains strong on most orange oils and their derivatives.
5/26/22: The first Fundecitrus crop estimate for the Brazil 2022-2023 orange season was released today, May 26th. It currently predicts a harvest of 316.96 million boxes. Fruit yield is expected to be better with this upcoming harvest, and the majority of the fruit is expected to be harvested during the first and second blooms. These numbers may be adjusted depending on the rainfall for June through August. If rain conditions are optimal, the total crop will likely increase. However, if the rainfall ends up being less than expected, the harvest output will likely be lessened.
3/14/22: On March 9th, 2022, The US Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reduced Florida’s orange and grapefruit crop estimations again. This mostly affects Valencia oranges, which have had a decrease of 3 million boxes. This represents a 12% decrease from the previous estimation. The total Florida Orange forecast for the 2021-2022 crop season is 41.2 million boxes. This represents a 22% decrease from the previous season.
2/16/22: The US Department of Agriculture released its orange crop forecast for Florida’s 2021-2022 season, indicating that harvests will be reduced by 1 million boxes. This brings the total projection down to 43.5 million boxes. Fundecitrus also released its orange crop forecast for Brazil’s 2021-2022 season, indicating that it remains unchanged. Current estimates are at 264.14 million boxes.
1/18/22: The USDA Citrus Production Forecast for January has reported another decrease for Florida orange production, now totalling 44.5 million boxes. The estimates for Texas have also lowered, from 550,000 to 400,000.
In California, the predictions have actually increased, rising from 43.5 million boxes to 47.6 million boxes.
12/1/21: The entire orange market continues to move up in terms of cost; domestic producers are also starting to reflect the higher prices of international producers, indicating that these increases are here to stay for the foreseeable future.
11/9/21: Prices of orange juice have risen by over 30% on a month-on-month basis during September, though they have since stabilized. The recent drought in Brazil has caused a huge strain on the production of citrus; these difficulties, combined with unseasonal frosts experienced earlier in the season, have led to a nearly 10% decline in overall orange production from key growing regions. As such, prices for orange oil and its derivatives are expected to rise.
6/3/21: Fundecitrus first Brazilian orange crop forecast from May 27, 2021 has come in; indicates a total of 294.17 million boxes for the 2021/2022 crop season. This represents a 9.51% increase vs. previous crop year of 268.63 million boxes, though the increase still is lower than average for Brazil, if you look at the past 10 seasons (-10.53%).
This means the crop will mainly depend on the first and second bloom for this season, as the 3rd and 4th bloom the fruit is smaller with fewer yields. It is expected that this year’s yield will be better than the last. Drop rate of fruit is estimated at 6-7%, mainly due to the increasing prevalence of greening and drought effects.
Fundecitrus forecast is based on mapping all citrus farms in Brazil every 3 years; next one is scheduled for August 2021
Often considered to be the most traded essential oil by volume in the entire industry, Orange Oil Midseason is emblematic of orange oil’s most signature traits. The oil is cold-pressed from the peels of the Citrus x sinensis fruit, also known as sweet orange, and does not undergo the steam distillation process more common to other essential oils. Orange oil midseason carries a fresh, juicy, citrusy aroma, with a strong aldehydic top note and sweet dry down. The application of orange oil midseason varies greatly depending on the industry, with the material seeing use in everything from juice flavorings to high-class perfume. The supreme versatility of orange oil, coupled with its widespread availability, has made the midseason variety a staple of the global essential oils industry.
Aroma is light, sweet, and refreshingly aldehydic. Its flavor is similarly sweet and light, with a distinctive fruity note reminiscent of freshly-scratched orange peels.
