News (archive)
Texas Citrus Shippers Hitting the Sweet Spot
October 25, 2005; Mission, TX- The Texas Citrus season is off to a sweet start with favorable summer and early fall temperatures as well as consistent late summer rainfalls and good grove maintenance providing growers and shippers with a bright outlook for a successful season. Quality and sizing is up from last yearýs crop which means more variety for retailers and consumers. Early brix tests show high levels for both oranges and grapefruit which is a great indication of quality so early in the season. Fruit has also shaped up nicely with minimal sheep nosing and minimal pest damage. Most Texas shippers started shipping their first loads of oranges about two weeks ago, while grapefruit shipments began in the last week. John McClung, Manager of Texas Valley Citrus Committee says, "Early indications are that supplies of Texas citrus will be down a few percentage points, but the fruit is large and quality is excellent, so we expect to market more to the fresh side this year than last and less to processing.ý With more product on the fresh market, Texas shippers are in a position to provide more of the product to loyal consumers in proven markets as well as new consumers in growing markets. TexaSweet has created a full creative campaign to assist retailers in promoting Texas Citrus via consumer materials, new POP and a variety of other tools. Lucy Garcia, Executive Director of TexaSweet Citrus Marketing, Inc. is excited by the high quality of the seasonýs crop, ýQuality and size are important factors to consumers who know what they want when it comes to citrus. Texas is in a great position to gain new consumers by not only meeting those needs but by producing a fruit with consistently high brix levels as well as intense red color throughout the majority of their season. This is going to be an exciting year for us with a new campaign to reach new markets.ý TexaSweet Citrus Marketing Inc, chartered in 1962, represents the domestic marketing and promotional interests of growers and shippers of fresh Texas Grapefruit and Oranges. - xxx -
October 10th, 2007