Orange juice stocks record drop of 33%

A survey carried out through independent audits with each of the companies associated with CitrusBR and later confidentially consolidated by an external audit, showed that the stocks of concentrated orange juice equivalent to 66 degrees brix held by the companies associated with CitrusBR on June 30th of 2021 were 316.929,70 tons, a reduction of 33% compared to the 471.138 tons existing in the same period of the previous year. “The scenario of reduction in juice stocks was already expected given the drop in orange processing recorded in the 2020/2021 harvest”, ponders the executive director of CitrusBR, Ibiapaba Netto. In the 2020/21 harvest, total processing was 222.528.950 boxes of oranges weighing 40,8 kilos, 31,54% less than the 325.077.912 boxes processed in the 2019/20 harvest, according to a release made last June.

2021/2022 harvest processing

Due to the prolonged drought throughout the citrus belt in the State of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, associated with the frosts that occurred throughout the month of July 2021, it is not yet possible to estimate orange processing for the 2021/2022 harvest. According to the director, the conjunction of these two phenomena in the same harvest is something unprecedented in the recent history of the sector. “The atypical scenario requires caution in data projections in the face of a possible crop failure”, he analyzes. The Citrus Defense Fund (Fundecitrus), which has maintained a harvest estimation and re-estimation program since 2015, will make a new announcement on September 10, according to its annual disclosure calendar. As soon as CitrusBR becomes aware of the effects of the aforementioned climate events on the supply of fruit, it will be possible to bring new information and projections to the market.