The Spanish connection

This news from just a few days ago talks about what has been a building crisis for Spanish citrus marketers. The lack of market opportunities was so bad that Intercitrus, trade organization for Spain's citrus growers, requested the government to pay for the removal of 400,000 metric tons of oranges and clementines from the market.

Spain's oranges can be sent to the U.S. after cold treatment, USDA regulations say.

How the California freeze changes Spain's outlook will be interesting to watch. This chart showing U.S. orange imports doesn't convince me that it will be easy to cover California's shortfall -- especially considering that Southern Hemisphere volume of navels won't be in play at all this winter.