W18: Orange Update

In W18 in the orange landscape, Egypt is the largest supplier of oranges from the northern hemisphere to the Southeast Asian region, after South Africa. In the first five months of the current season (October 2022-February 2023), Egypt was reported to export nearly 25KT of oranges to key Southeast Asian countries, which is the largest export volume in this period during the last five years. Egyptian suppliers hardly compete directly with South Africa, as exports peak from July to October, and Egypt exports most oranges from January to May. The global futures price for frozen orange juice concentrate (FOJC) has reached a record high in 2023 due to production issues in Florida, which is forecasted to produce its smallest orange crop since the 1930s. In Brazil, the orange supply has been low since early 2023, but prices have weakened due to the arrival of early varieties. In April 2023, the average price for pear oranges closed at USD 9.46/40.8kg box (BRL 46.87/40.8kg box), 3.08% lower than March 2023 but still 11.56% higher than April 2022. Farmers in northern SP have attempted to anticipate the harvesting of early varieties to make cash flow during the inter-harvest. The early navel orange season for Australian citrus growers and exporters is expected to start in W19 and have a balanced average crop. Fruit size may be slightly smaller across Southern states due to late flowering, but it is still growing and sizing up. Temperatures have stayed at the long-term average with no prolonged hot summer.