_LeS_/iStock(SANTA PAULA, Calif.) — When life gives you over-sized lemons, make lots of lemonade.
That’s what more consumers in Southern California may have to do after one of the state’s largest lemon producers, Limoneira, faced an unusual problem with this year’s yield.
“Excessive rains” last fall and winter was apparently sour news for the Santa Paula-based citrus grower, because it “created an overabundance of large fresh lemons in the citrus industry, resulting in an industry-wide decrease of lemon carton pricing and volume,” Limoneira said in a press release on Wednesday.
“As the company entered the latter stages of the third quarter, the large lemon inventory did not sell through as fast as previously expected due to more large lemons, industry-wide,” the company reported.
Limoneira added that the over-sized citrus meant less fresh fruit was sold to grocery stores, resulting in “dramatically lower fresh lemon utilization rates, lower average per carton pricing and higher per carton packing costs.”
The lemons sold for approximately $18 per carton, well below the company’s normal pricing of closer to $30, according to CEO and President Harold Edwards.
“We had to turn approximately 50 percent of our fresh lemons into juice,” he explained.
“This pressured pricing and resulted in a much higher percentage of fruit that was sold into the lemon juice market,” Ben Bienvenu, an analyst at the citrus company’s financial planning firm Stephens Inc., told ABC News. It also “created an imbalance between the price received by Limoneira for selling the fruit, and the cost it requires to pack the fruit.”
The wholesale price of lemons in the U.S. per kilogram is $1.84, which is down 39 percent from last year, and the average production price is $784 per metric ton, according to global food market intelligence company Tridge.
Limoneira expects an operating loss for 2019 of approximately $500,000 to $3 million.
Edwards added that for fiscal 2020, “we are well-positioned for a return to solid growth and improved profitability” based on Limoneira’s expected organic lemon growth and recent acquisitions.
The future of Limoneira is ripe for a rebound with an additional 1,200 acres of non-bearing lemons, which should become full bearing over the next four years and enable the company to achieve strong growth in years ahead.
Southern California citrus fans should embrace the over-sized citrus and save the juice for a rainy day.
Despite impact on the company, Limoneira was still able to look on the bright side for National Lemon Juice Day and shared a series of tweets with best use recipes.
Limoneira Co. did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
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