The preliminary on-tree value of the 1999-00 crop of $1.2 billion is higher than the revised values for all seasons since 1991-92. It is five percent greater than the revised value of $1.1 billion for 1998-99, which was revised downward four percent from the preliminary value. Price per box and value of production is higher for the grapefruit types and total. Price per box is lower for all other citrus resulting in lower values for all except Valencia oranges and limes. Total production at 298 million boxes is the second highest recorded and only two percent below the record set in1997-98.

    Orange production is up 25 percent and only 4.5 percent below the 1997-98 record. Prices and values are lower for early-midseason-Navel fruit and all oranges. Although the Valencia price per box is lower, the value of production shows an eight percent increase. Navel production is up to 5.4 million boxes but the price is down by one-third and the value is 30 percent lower. Two-thirds of the Navel crop was shipped fresh and they account for 55 percent of the early-midseason-Navel fruit utilized fresh.

    Grapefruit production is up 13.5 percent with a shift in utilization toward processing. Colored seedless production is a record at 31.9 million boxes. Prices per box are much improved over the previous season and the highest since 1991-92. Crop values for white, colored, and all grapefruit are also the highest since 1991-92. Seedy value is higher than the four previous seasons.

    Despite increases in production, significantly lower prices for Temples, K-Early Citrus, and tangerines resulted in lower values. Production is down for only two crops--the tangelo crop is the smallest in 30 years and the lemon crop is below 200,000 boxes for the fourth time in five years. Prices are lower and values slashed for both tangelos and lemons. Although the lime price is down, production is up 20 percent and the value is higher. Tangerine production is higher in both catego ries with most of the gain going into processing. With the Honey tangerine price cut in half, crop value is down 30 percent. The price for early tangerines, dominated by the Sunburst and Fallglo varieties, is down 36 percent.

    Prices for the 1999-00 season are preliminary and will be revised next September when the results of all participation plans and pools become final. Revised prices are shown for 1998-99.

    The table on page 8 shows a breakdown of citrus prices for all fruit types by fresh and processed usage for 1999-00 and the two previous seasons.

    Polk leads in orange production with 32.4 million boxes and is followed by Hendry, Highlands, and DeSoto. Production from the top four counties is over 58 percent of the oranges. The 99.0 million box Valencia crop is the second largest on record and 43 percent of all oranges. Navels are up eight percent to 5.4 million boxes and are included in the early-midseason total of 134.0 million boxes.

    St. Lucie's 19.0 million boxes represent over one-third of all grapefruit. Neighboring Indian River has the next largest crop, 13.6 million boxes. These top producers account for over 60 percent of the crop. The majority is colored seedless (60 percent), with white seedless at 39 percent and seedy fruit providing one percent.

    Among specialty fruit, only tangelo production was lower this season. Tangerines and K-Early Citrus gained about 40 percent and Temples increased eight percent. Polk led in tangerine and tangelo production. Highlands produced the most Temples (28 percent) and Lake supplied over three-fourths of the K-Early Citrus.

    Estimates of county production are prepared from objective survey data used in forecasting citrus crop production. The apportionment of final harvest to the counties is based on bearing trees from the biennial Commercial Citrus Inventory; the limb county survey, which provides an estimate of the average fruit per tree; and the drop and size surveys, which provide estimates of the amount of fruit on the tree available at harvest, and the size of the fruit at that time. The size of the samples used in these surveys and the distribution of the sample groves around the state are chosen to minimize the error in the estimates of production and are not to be considered as accurate for the counties as at the state or area level.

    The Florida Agricultural Statistics Service conducts objective surveys to determine fruit per tree, average sizes, and droppage between August and maturity. These data are used to estimate production per tree for each of four types of citrus fruit, as shown in the following tables.

    The estimates of production per tree are based on official end-of- season production estimates and the number of bearing trees indicated by the citrus tree inventory surveys. The averages of boxes per tree for age groups shown are calculated from estimates of fruit per tree in August, size at maturity, and drop between August and maturity.

    Additionally, the boxes are subdivided by production areas. Estimated boxes by types and age groups are weighted averages of the indicated seasons. Small sample sizes in some age/area cells and rounding may contribute to inconsistant averages.

FLORIDA CITRUS: Estimated boxes of fruit per tree by age groups and production areas, 1995-96 through 1999-00
Fruit type and season	Area	Age of trees					Average, weighted by bearing trees
		3 - 5 years	6 - 8 years	9 - 13 years	14 - 23 years	24 years and older
		- - - Boxes per tree - - -
EARLY AND MIDSEASON ORANGES: (Includes Navels)
1995-96	State	1 .3	2 .9	3 .8	4 .1	4 .9	3 .11
	Indian River	0 .5	2 .3	2 .7	2 .4	2 .7	2 .09
	Northern & Central	1 .6	2 .7	3 .7	5 .7	6 .7	3 .17
	Western	1 .1	3 .6	3 .8	4 .4	5 .6	3 .75
	Southern	1 .3	2 .8	4 .2	3 .9	3 .9	2 .88
1996-97	State	1 .3	2 .8	3 .7	5 .1	5 .3	3 .33
	Indian River	1 .0	1 .5	3 .0	3 .2	3 .1	2 .45
	Northern & Central	1 .5	2 .5	3 .4	5 .8	6 .1	3 .09
	Western	0 .9	3 .5	4 .4	6 .1	6 .5	4 .31
	Southern	1 .4	2 .9	3 .4	4 .7	4 .4	3 .05
1997-98	State	1 .3	2 .7	3 .8	4 .8	5 .3	3 .51
	Indian River	0 .9	1 .3	2 .7	3 .4	2 .7	2 .32
	Northern & Central	1 .4	3 .1	4 .2	6 .3	7 .6	3 .97
	Western	1 .5	3 .6	4 .2	5 .6	6 .1	4 .46
	Southern	1 .1	1 .9	3 .4	3 .6	3 .6	2 .65
1998-99	State	0 .8	1 .9	2 .9	3 .8	4 .2	2 .79
	Indian River	0 .4	1 .4	2 .1	2 .5	2 .7	2 .05
	Northern & Central	1 .1	2 .0	2 .6	4 .8	4 .6	2 .78
	Western	0 .8	2 .2	3 .4	4 .2	4 .9	3 .48
	Southern	0 .6	1 .8	2 .8	3 .3	3 .6	2 .48
1999-00	State	0 .9	2 .1	3 .4	4 .7	5 .2	3 .45
	Indian River	0 .5	1 .9	2 .1	2 .4	3 .0	2 .22
	Northern & Central	1 .0	2 .3	3 .9	5 .3	7 .4	3 .90
	Western	0 .7	1 .9	3 .9	5 .4	5 .6	4 .15
	Southern	1 .1	2 .0	2 .7	4 .3	4 .0	2 .82
Average	State	1 .20	2 .49	3 .44	4 .47	4 .97	3 .24
	Indian River	0 .71	1 .67	2 .51	2 .77	2 .85	2 .23
	Northern & Central	1 .44	2 .53	3 .56	5 .51	6 .49	3 .38
	Western	1 .05	3 .03	3 .94	5 .12	5 .72	4 .03
	Southern	1 .21	2 .32	3 .16	3 .92	3 .89	2 .78

    Tree numbers shown below are forecast trees of bearing age for the 1999-00 season. Total bearing trees increased from the previous season for the orange varieties but decreased for the white and colored seedless grapefruit. With trees maturing, a population shift occurred with the increase of bearing trees in Age 3 (9-13 years) and corresponding decreases in younger trees for each of the fruit types listed. Unidentified trees of bearing age are prorated to identified types by year in which set. Most of these are first year bearing trees which will be identified in the field during the next tree census.

FLORIDA ORANGES AND GRAPEFRUIT: Estimated trees of bearing age by age group, year set, and type, for the 1999-00 season
Fruit type	Age 1 1994-96	Age 2 1991-93	Age 3 1986-90	Age 4 1976-85	Age 5 1975 and earlier	Total bearing trees
	- - - 1,000 trees - - -
Early-Mid Oranges (Includes Navels)	2,664	8,570	14,065	6,986	6,548	38,833
Valencia Oranges	3,584	10,122	15,298	4,842	6,042	39,888
White Seedless Grapefruit	397	758	1,053	225	1,903	4,336
Colored Seedless Grapefruit	383	2,097	2,344	1,467	1,363	7,654

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