Whether it's sourced domestically or from abroad, summer citrus should be plentiful this season, and growers and importers say quality should be outstanding.
In California, some growers already were winding down their 2024-25 navel orange crop, said Casey Creamer, president of Exeter-based California Citrus Mutual. Others could continue with late navels into July. As navels finish up, valencias will step in to fill the void.
“We had some pretty good growing conditions for this year's valencia crop,” Creamer said.
The biggest difference between last year's crop and this year's will be exterior quality.
“We did not have the pest pressures we saw during the prior season,” he said. “[Valencias] will taste great and will be cleaner on the outside, too.”
Sunkist Growers
The 2024-25 navel crop from Valencia, Calif.-based Sunkist Growers Inc. has been “excellent, with vibrant color and strong flavor,” said Cassie Howard, senior director of category management and marketing.
Volume for this season is up compared to last year; however, fruit size is generally smaller than in the previous season, and that has slightly shifted the ratio of bag versus bulk offerings, she said.
Sunkist should have navel oranges into July and will offer a wide range of citrus throughout the late spring and summer.
“We have Sunkist Cali mandarins, blood oranges and cara cara oranges available through May,” Howard said.
Summer citrus staples from Sunkist include lemons and grapefruit, which are already available. Valencia oranges will begin shipping in early June. There should be a good distribution of sizes, good quality and excellent taste profile, she said.
Sunkist's grapefruit volume should be up about 5%, and lemon volume should be similar to last year; the valencia crop might be down, but it still has plenty of promotional opportunities, Howard said.
Seald Sweet International
Vero Beach, Fla.-based Seald Sweet International is a major importer of summer citrus, said GT Parris, vice president of sales and sourcing team.
Clementines from Peru arrived in early May and had great color and high Brix, Parris said. Lemons from Argentina were expected to arrive in the U.S. around May 20 and be around through August, he said.
Chilean lemons should be here from late July until September or October, and lemons from Mexico should be available in the U.S. during September, October and November.
Seald Sweet also will have a large navel orange import program from South Africa and Chile this summer, starting in late June from South Africa and a few weeks later from Chile. Cara caras also should be arriving from South Africa and Chile.
“What we're excited about this year is that product across the board is really looking solid,” Parris said.
Seald Sweet expects to have extra volume of Chilean murcotts this year, he said, and South African navels seem to be “getting back to a normal year” following a 25% to 30% drop because of water-related issues.
“It's shaping up to be an excellent year on quality,” Parris said.
Consalo Family Farms
Casey Kio, executive vice president of global business for Consalo Family Farms, in Vineland, N.J., and Chief Financial Officer Sarah Consalo recently returned from a trip to South Africa where they met with a dozen mandarin and navel orange growers to plan their summer citrus programs for 2025.
Growing conditions in South Africa seem to be back to normal this season after a flood last year took out 10% to 15% of the citrus crop in the Citrusdal area of the province of Western Cape, Kio said.
“It looks like we've got a solid crop coming in this year,” she said.
The company also works with summer citrus growers in Peru, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.
In the Southern Hemisphere, Chile and Peru have had great weather, Kio said. “We don't foresee any issues with any of the commodities there.”
Consalo Family Farms citrus sales should be up 3% to 5% across the board this year, Kio said.
Organic outlook
Organic citrus shipments from abroad are fairly few and far between.
Although Seald Sweet will have a few organic lemons this summer, Parris said there are few organic shipments from Southern Hemisphere growers because of lack of demand, higher prices and a 25- to 30-day shipping time that makes the trip riskier from a quality standpoint.
Sunkist Growers, however, will offer a full range of organic citrus, including organic navel oranges, organic valencia oranges and organic lemons, Howard said.
Valencias will be available throughout the summer starting in June when the navel crop finishes, and grapefruit will be available until mid-July.
Import impact
Kio said imported product plays an important role in the citrus category by providing continuity on supermarket shelves and keeping consumers happy by providing mandarins, grapefruit, lemons and oranges all year long.
“We're not competing with California, Florida or Texas, since they're out of season,” she said.
Consalo Family Farms has a growing operation in New Jersey that focuses on blueberries as well as a wide variety of vegetables.