WINTER HAVEN – Florida fresh fruit shipments have declined more than 20 percent so far this season because of crop declines, smaller fruit sizes and a later start to the harvesting season.
Through Dec. 15, total fresh shipments have fallen 24.5 percent compared with the same point in the 2012-13 season and almost 30 percent compared with 2011-12, according to the Lakeland-based Citrus Administrative Committee, a fresh industry regulatory group. Grapefruit shipments have dropped 23.4 percent since last season, fresh oranges 25 percent and tangerines, tangelos and other specialty varieties by 26 percent.
Fresh citrus represents a much smaller segment of the Florida citrus industry, dominated by juice processing, but it is particularly important in Polk County, the top producer of tangerines and tangelos and home to three of the state's 10 largest packinghouses in Dundee, Haines City and Lake Wales.
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