The decline in production, very largely due to the devastating effects of greening, seems even more marked every year. According to the firm Elisabeth Steger, the 2016-17 orange harvest should be down more than 25 % from the previous season, to barely more than 60 million field crates of approx. 38.5 kg (as opposed to 81.6 million boxes in 2015-16 and more than 100 million in 2013-14). The fall in cultivated surface areas is also gathering pace, both for oranges (approximately 170 000 ha remaining, after the loss of 10 000 ha in the past two years) and for grapefruits (approximately 37 000 ha remaining, after the loss of more than 1 000 ha per year in the past two years). The only good news is the explosive rise in orange concentrate rates, going from 1 800 USD per tonne into Rotterdam to more than 2 300 USD per tonne in early June.
Sources: Ultimate Citrus, NASS, Foodnews
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