Riverina Citrus is concerned about local Valencia growers, with a lot of fruit remaining on trees at this late stage of the season and growing concerns about prices being offered at the shed door.
“The amount of the Valencia crop remaining unharvested has been exasperated by the fact that some processors are using navel orange off- run fruit which is being supplied to them at around $50 per tonne at the packer shed door,” Riverina Citrus chairman Frank Battistel says.
“One can understand the processors point of view of 'why not when it is so cheap', but this does not mean that this situation is fair for our growers.
“'Producers need to understand that growers only receive a very small return per tonne for juice-grade fruit delivered to packing sheds. Financially growers may be better off taking their juice off-run home and spreading it out in the orchard as mulch.
“Doing this would, in turn, help speed up the overall uptake of contracted and uncontracted Valencia oranges.”
Recent studies on the impact of fruit held on the tree past the optimum harvest date have demonstrated a significant yield reduction for the following season, estimated to be as much as 50 per cent.
A recent article in the Financial Times in Sao Paulo details how Brazilian growers are now receiving up to the equivalent of $A233.00 per tonne. Brazil, which produces half of the world’s orange juice, has had its worst harvest in seven years due to bad weather and diseases.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Agriculture has forecast Florida’s 2009/10 crop to be the lowest production in more than a decade - down 15 per cent on the 2008/09 crop. Frozen concentrated orange juice prices have risen 95 per cent since January 2009 on the back of low crops.
“Riverina Citrus has begun to question whether Riverina growers are being treated fairly by all processors when some of these companies are offering prices for out of contract Valencia oranges as low as $150 per tonne - claiming that it is concentrate equivalent,” Mr Battistel says.
“Are our growers accepting what is being offered to them without understanding the true value of their crop?
“Perhaps it's time for Riverina Citrus to revisit the collective bargaining proposal when we know this industry power can provide the scope to effectively negotiate the non-contract component of crops and better understand the market forces that are operating.”
