Florida Orange Juice Sales Soar in Swirl of Sickness

Posted by Paul Rusnak|April 13, 2020

The ongoing effect of the coronavirus is starting to take big bites out of the Florida fresh fruit and vegetable industry. Massive foodservice disruptions are leaving many growers to disk under crops that would have been consumed. On the opposite side of the produce aisle, another impact of COVID-19 is sparking a surge in orange juice sales and consumption.

According to market number-crunching firm Nielsen, the retail sales of orange juice in the U.S. shot up 38% year over year in March. The marked increase in demand no doubt is being driven by consumers’ concern about the coronavirus and what they can do to help boost their immune system. Studies show orange juice provides a natural source of vitamin C and other health-aiding antioxidants.

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to play out over time, it stands to reason that sales of orange juice should remain brisk. The elevated OJ consumption numbers come as good news to Florida producers as the industry was sitting on a excess of inventory coming into the season, causing undue cost pressures. Consumption and sales figures have been struggling for several years up to this point. The current outflow of inventory should provide some temporary relief.

In the meantime, USDA released its latest 2019-2020 citrus crop estimate. The agency’s April report pegs Florida orange production at 70 million boxes (30 million boxes of non-Valencia varieties + 40 million boxes of Valencia), a 1 million box decrease over last month’s forecast. Florida grapefruit production also was squeezed a little, decreasing from 5.4 million to 5.2 million boxes for the season.

“Any decline in production for the Florida citrus industry is unfortunate, even when incremental,” says Shannon Shepp, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Citrus. “However, we are heartened by the fact that today’s forecast does not resemble the steep declines experienced in the early days of citrus greening in Florida.”