Frozen Oranges

More than two weeks after the Christmas freeze that devastated the citrus belt of the San Joaquin Valley, experts still cannot determine just how bad the damage is.

“Most of the freeze damage has not fully manifested itself,” says Shann Blue of California Citrus Mutual, an association of Central Valley growers. “The problem is you can’t tell how bad things are until the fruit thaws, and we’re still in the deep-freeze here. This weekend some growers were out running their wind machines again.”

As near as can be figured, the navel orange industry has been the hardest hit, with approximately three-fourths of the fruit remaining on trees destroyed.

As bad as that sounds, two factors make it worse. First, erratic fall weather meant that this year’s crop was extremely slow to mature, leaving far more fruit vulnerable on the trees than in a normal year.

Second, screwy weather during spring pollination and summer maturing led to predictions that this year’s crop would be almost a quarter less than last year’s even before the freeze.

As a result, the wholesale price of oranges in Los Angeles has increased by about a third. Although retail prices are difficult to track, all indications are that they have gone up by at least as much.

Other citrus has not been affected as severely. Lemon, grapefruit and tangerine prices have remained relatively stable.

Although the lemon crop in the San Joaquin Valley was virtually wiped out, only 10% to 15% of the California total grows there. Ventura County has the majority of lemons and, for the most part, that area escaped serious frost damage.

Most California grapefruit comes from Riverside and San Diego counties, which--in combination with the effect of competition from healthy industries in Florida and Texas--should hold prices down.

The same is true of tangerines and other exotic types of citrus, which are also grown extensively in Arizona and the desert regions of California.

California’s Valencia orange harvest doesn’t begin until mid-March, and growers are holding their breath. Although Valencias blossom and begin to mature at the same time as navels, it takes them two to three months longer to mature.

Despite going through the same freeze as the navel crop, there is a chance that the Valencias will pull through because the fruit can repair some internal frost damage as long as it is not too extensive.