Consumers to Feel the Freeze Soon : Agriculture: The heavy frost damage to California crops will translate into higher prices in grocery stores. And the damage may be long term if citrus trees were harmed by the cold, reducing future harvests.

The icy blast that has devastated California fruit harvests will soon be felt in grocery stores, as navel orange prices leap 20% or more in the coming days, food industry sources said Wednesday.

On a day when growers sought to assess the destruction, pegged in the hundreds of millions of dollars, many worried that the frost would have a long-term effect. In addition to damage to fruit that’s already known, harm to trees--which could reduce citrus harvests scheduled for later this year--may not be apparent for months.

“It could be a matter of days that you see prices react to this,” said Bob Krauter, spokesman for the California Farm Bureau Federation. “A lot of people in the industry can’t remember when it was so cold for so long in such a widespread area of the state.” One harbinger of higher prices: The price of frozen concentrated orange juice for January delivery has increased five days in a row, reflecting the frost and the view that shortages will push up the price.

California agriculture officials Wednesday outlined the broad crop damage, which extended to oranges, tangerines, lemons, strawberries, avocado, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and celery grown in various regions of the state.

By some estimates, 20% of the state’s avocado crop has been ruined in the past several days. Also, there are fears about Valencia oranges, which will not be ready for harvest until March.

“Damage will partly depend on how long temperatures remain low,” the state Agriculture Department said in a statement. “If there is slow warming, damage will be less severe.”

But most attention was focused on the startling destruction of the state’s navel orange harvest, a $248-million crop in 1989. Some 20% of the crop--used mostly for eating rather than juice--had been picked before the freeze, but much of the remaining fruit is presumed lost.

“You’re looking at close to $200 million in fruit that’s still out there,” said Krauter of the farm bureau, which has 83,000 members.

The first signs that the crop damage is translating into higher food prices are starting to become apparent. Since last Sunday, wholesale prices for navel oranges have risen by 5 cents a pound, said Dick Spezzano, vice president of produce at Vons Cos. in Arcadia.

Spezzano predicted that grocers might soon charge 10 or 20 cents more per pound for navel oranges. That would represent an increase of 20% to 40% at the consumer level. “I think you’ll see it next week,” he said. “Wholesale-wise, the price has already gone up.”

Others foresee similar leaps in price. “It usually takes one to two days for this stuff to start catching up,” said Preston Fletcher, general manager of Coast Apex Wholesale Produce Co. in Los Angeles, who foresees some price increases in the 30% to 50% range. “We’ll probably start feeling the effect toward the end of the week.”

Uncertainty about the broad economic effects of the crop damage continues, because the status of some products, such as lemons and grapefruit, will not be known for possibly two weeks, state officials said. But it is likely that the higher prices will be felt far beyond the California borders and in commodities that were not damaged, analysts said.

The California citrus damage means “you are looking at something in the order of a 10% reduction over last year’s availability of fresh fruit nationwide,” said Frank Limacher, an agriculture economist with the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

“My guess is that people are going to eat more apples and bananas, and very possibly we’ll see price increases in those commodities as well.”

Meanwhile, some are watchful for signs of price increases that have little to do with supply and demand.

“Sometimes the apple people or the pear people get a little excited about citrus losses--and they push their prices up,” observed Spezzano of Vons. “But then it comes back down in a week or two.”

For all the bad news, some damaged fruit is expected to survive, although extra time will be required for it to heal, delaying its arrival on grocery shelves. And in some cases, farmers may be able to replant.

At Monrovia Nursery Co. in Azusa, for instance, such plants as hibiscus, bougainvilleas and lantanas were harmed by temperatures that reached the mid-20s, despite the use of heaters and wind machines. But they will be salvaged over the next few months, said Gilbert Resendez, the general manager.

“It didn’t kill them, but it will probably set back the sale date by two or three months,” he explained.

Similarly, growers of strawberries in San Diego and some other places found the fruit discolored but not killed by the freeze. “It’s a matter of waiting for the plant to produce berries again,” said the farm bureau’s Krauter.

Orange Juice Prices Frozen orange juice concentrate for March, 1991, delivery. Daily close on the New York Cotton Exchange. Wednesday: $1.1995, up 2.05 cents The Toll On Citrus Naval orange crop: 20% picked before freeze, most of remaining 80% ruined Lemon crop: 25% picked before freeze, damage to remaining 75% is unknown yet Grapefruit crop: less than 5% picked before freeze, damage to remaining 95% unknown Source: California Agricultural Statistics Service