The vast majority of Florida's citrus doesn't end up on roadside stands or in supermarket produce sections. About 90 percent of the state's crop is processed into juice by a handful of juice plants across the state. Some of the larger juice processors in Florida are Vitality Beverages, Tropicana and Florida's Natural Growers. In 1998, Florida's juice processors manufactured nearly 1.5 billion gallons of citrus juice, almost enough to fill the Hillsborough River reservoir when it is at a normal, nondrought level. Florida orange growers continue an ongoing battle for market share with growers in Brazil, the world's largest producer of oranges.
Trade restrictions are often a hotly debated issue.
In the future, Florida citrus marketers see an immense potential export market in China. It's a business that has held fast through freezes, plant diseases, trade battles and changing market tastes to remain one of Florida's stalwarts.