Oranges & juice: Extraction

Why an orange grove is a decades-long bet

Sweet oranges grow on grafted trees in subtropical belts with warm days, mild winters and reliable water. Trees take several years to bear, then crop for decades. Fruit is picked by hand. Juice plants extract the juice and either pasteurise it as not-from-concentrate (NFC) or evaporate it into frozen concentrate (FCOJ). Geman notes that quality is graded by brix, the sugar fraction, and by acidity. By-products include peel oil and dried pulp for cattle feed. Citrus greening, a bacterial disease spread by an insect, has cut yields in Florida and now Brazil.

Oranges are a tree crop, so supply responds slowly: a grove takes years to bear and decades to wear out. Two business models dominate. In Brazil's Sao Paulo belt, and formerly Florida, large groves grow juice varieties for a handful of processors, and most fruit is squeezed. In Spain, Egypt, South Africa and other Mediterranean and Southern Hemisphere exporters, groves grow fresh-market fruit for packhouses and cold chains. Across China, Mexico and India, millions of smaller growers sell fresh fruit through local wholesale markets. Weather (frost, drought, hurricanes) and citrus greening drive yields, which range from about 16 t/ha in India to 46 t/ha in South Africa (FAOSTAT 2024).

Methods compared

How each method works

Large commercial groves, mostly rainfed with some irrigation, grow Pera, Valencia and Hamlin oranges under contract or for the processors' own farms. Fruit is trucked to extraction plants, concentrated or kept as NFC, and shipped in bulk to Europe and the US. Fundecitrus surveys tree counts and greening to forecast the crop.

Lowest-cost juice supply at scale, but concentrated in one region and exposed to drought and greening.

Florida groves grow processing oranges and California grows fresh navels and Valencias. Citrus greening, found in Florida in 2005, plus hurricanes and freezes have shrunk Florida's crop, so US packers now import most of their juice from Brazil and Mexico.

Close to the largest juice market, but the crop has collapsed under disease and storms.

Groves grow navels, Valencias and blood oranges for packhouses that wash, wax, grade and box fruit. Exporters must meet plant-health rules and residue limits in the EU and other markets, which often means cold treatment in transit. Egypt has grown fast on low labour and land costs.

Higher price per tonne than juice fruit, but needs cold chains and market access, and fruit is perishable.

Small and mid-sized orchards, often irrigated from wells, grow Nagpur mandarins (botanically mandarins, though sold as oranges), sweet oranges (mosambi) and Kinnow. Fruit is sold to traders and in mandis, with little processing. Small fruit size and post-harvest losses limit exports.

Serves a large home market, but yields are below world average and processing capacity is small.

Who does it: global

Who does it: India

India grew 3.85 Mt of oranges on 0.24 Mha in 2024 (FAOSTAT), mostly sold fresh by small growers in Vidarbha (Nagpur, Amravati), Andhra Pradesh and Punjab. Processing is small. India imported 138 kt of fresh oranges worth $67 million in 2024 and exported 68 kt worth $21 million (UN Comtrade).