Orange harvest 2025/26 ends below initial projection

The closing of the 2025/26 orange crop of the São Paulo and Triângulo/Southwest Minas citrus belt, released today (April 10) by Fundecitrus, is 292.94 million boxes of 40.8 kg. The production of this season was 26.9% higher than that of 2024/2025, which ended with 230.87 million boxes, and 6.9% lower than the initial projection of 314.60 million boxes made in May 2025. Climatic factors, more precisely the water deficit throughout the cycle, and phytosanitary factors, more precisely the effect of the high incidence of greening in the belt, associated with the later harvest than usual, mainly due to the high proportion of fruits of the second flowering, contributed to the reduction in fruit weight and the increase in the drop rate compared to the initial estimate. From May 2025 to March 2026, in the accumulated average of all regions, it rained 1,135 millimeters in the belt, 13% less than the historical average (1991-2020), according to data from Climatempo Meteorology. The largest ...