Many people in the citrus industry were surprised by a relatively slow Navel orange season in the U.S. and Canada this year, which came about both due to higher volumes than anticipated following the Californian freeze and excellent clementine marketing programs, according to Capespan North America. 

It was estimated that freezing temperatures in California in early December last year wiped out on average 30% of the state's citrus crop.

Capespan North American president and CEO Mark Greenberg told www.freshfruitportal.com the actual damage to Navels wasn't as severe as originally thought.

"They had a pretty substantial freeze and there had been this anticipation that the California Navel shipments would not extend too deep into June, or certainly not get into July as they often do," Greenberg said.

"But apparently they did not lose as much fruit as they thought they had - I had heard that the original estimates were that they lost 40% but in fact it was only 20% of their Navels - I don't know what number is right.

"So there was this overlap early in the season with Navel oranges from South Africa and Chile, coming into a market that had some not insignificant carry-over of California volumes, which I think dampened the movement."

Greenberg said citrus sellers had tried to compensate for the anticipated lower volumes than normal by charging more for the fruit.

"Understandably, if not justifiably, the growers and packhouses pushed their prices up and slowed down their movement to make the best that they could out of their existing crop," he said.

"And so they turned what was thought to be a short crop into, if not a long crop, then a normal crop in terms of how far into summer the fruit extended."

Consumers opting for easy peelers

The Capespan North America head went on to say easy peelers, which had been more heavily hit by the cold weather than Navels, had performed far better in the U.S. and Canadian markets over the last few months.

"When the imported season opened up, the earliest clementines from Peru, Chile and even South Africa did really quite well, and in fact easy peelers have been a pretty good product," he said.

"Right through the summer the prices have been stable. They started quite high but there was no precipitous drop in price. At their lowest point, which was probably two weeks ago, they sat at a fairly good price and now they're starting to inch up a little bit.

"So they've been a pretty good item since the last days of May, and will be right through September and into mid-October."

One reason easy peelers performed particularly well was due to sellers' strong marketing strategies, according to Greenberg, which exacerbated the slow pace of Navel sales throughout the season.

"They're branded now by most people. We brand ours as ClemGems, our competitors have other brand names – Cuties, Halos, Darlings. I think the industry - and the Californians can take a lot of credit - has really branded and marketed these easy peelers so well that so much citrus attention is focused on them," he said.

"I think to some extent it has been to the detriment of Navel oranges, and as result I think Navel oranges sales have been slower than last year."

Brighter future for Navels

Greenberg said the Navel stocks were now starting to clear, and Capespan North America was starting to see its sales picking up on a 'week-on-week basis' moving into September - partly due to the school year starting - adding there was 'no disaster pending'.

He also said North American citrus importers needed to be wary of a possible earlier start than usual to the U.S. 2014 citrus season, and may have to limit the volumes of late varieties they bring into the market.

"I think we need to be cognizant in our market of the potential for an early start to the California citrus season," Greenberg said.

"That's certainly what the California producers are saying. Not to scare the importers out of the market, but they need to prepare their chain stores properly and they're predicting an early start to their season. So importers like ourselves are going to have to be a bit cautious on the volume of late fruit that we bring in."

Early South American grapes

In addition to a possible early start to the U.S. citrus season this year, Greenberg echoed importer Pandol Brothers' opinion that table grape shipments from South American countries would likely begin earlier than last year.

"I think that if it is not the same as last year it probably will be a bit earlier. All the crops from the Southern Hemisphere seem to set their clocks at the same time – either everything's late or everything's early," he said.

"I believe that both Peru and Chile will have generally early seasons, but I don't think it's going to be dramatic - I think seven to 10 days is what I'm hearing."

He added the more pressing question was how long Californian table grapes would stay in the market, since they would have a direct implication on imported fruit.

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