Orange season ‘relatively stable’

COLOUR OF SPRING: Many citrus orchards are in flowering mode, while still having fruit to pick. Picture by Liam Clayton

As the 2020 Gisborne navel orange season draws to a close First Fresh NZ managing director Ian Albers said growers have had their fair share of trials and tribulations due to Covid.

Just the late navels and the summer citrus varieties remain to be harvested between now and late January.

“Right now many citrus orchards are in flowering mode and the air is thick with the sweet smell of citrus blossom and the sound of bees who just love citrus pollen,” Mr Albers said.'

Field service manager for First Fresh NZ, Matthew Carter, said they had actually been pleasantly surprised by the level of flowering so far this spring, given that 2020 was considered an ‘on year'.

“Normally we would expect a lighter flowering after a heavy crop but so far most blocks are reporting good flower numbers for 2021.

“Of course those flowers still have to set into fruit and it will not be until that happens that we will see how next season is shaping up,” he said.

Mr Albers said from a marketing perspective the 2020 season had by all accounts been relatively stable despite the uncertainty of what impact Covid-19 might have on both supply and demand.

“On the demand side we saw positive impacts from consumers wanting fruit that was high in Vitamin C, the trend to buying more but shopping less often and increased demand for prepacked fruit where consumers wanted convenience and a ‘one-touch' pick- up.

“On the negative side the fact that many independent fruit and vege shops weren't able to open during the first lockdown did have an impact on demand for some specific sizes and grades of fruit,” he said.

“I think from an eating perspective Gisborne navels were fantastic this year with good brix (sugar levels) balanced out by a good acid balance.”

He said that certainly helped with repeat purchases as consumers who have a great eating experience will turn around and buy more the following week.

“This was also borne out by good feedback from Japan for Gisborne navels. Sales of navels to Japan were up over 40 percent compared to last year.

“The demand for satsuma mandarins through May, June and July was also very good and in fact the demand was so good the season finished two to three weeks earlier than expected and this, combined with a slow start to the Australian imported mandarin programme created good demand for other New Zealand mandarin varieties such as Richard Special, Gold Nugget and Afourer.

“These varieties are more niche than the standard satsuma varieties but they were in hot demand through July and August.”

As reported earlier in the season the main lemon crop was down compared to 2019, which was a record year.

“It kind of bucked the trend that we saw with other citrus varieties,” Mr Albers said.

“Lemon exports were down overall this year but this has been offset with better prices and good demand.

“Fruit was a little smaller than we would have liked but our customers adjusted their selling programmes to suit that,” he said.

“With the warmer weather consumers will soon start turning their attention to berries and summer fruit. However, there is still decent demand for New Zealand mandarins, Valencia oranges, tangelos and in the lead-up to Christmas and into the new year.

“Valencia in particular make great orange juice when squeezed and there is nothing like a glass of fresh orange juice on a hot summer's day after doing the lawns.”