Brazil’s citrus sector continued to drive job growth in the country’s agriculture industry, according to 2023 employment data compiled by CitrusBR and shared by Abrafrutas.

Citrus farming saw 8% growth in job creation, adding 54,232 jobs in 2023, outpacing the previous year’s growth by more than 4,000 positions, Abrafrutas reported. Citrus jobs accounted for 35% of new employment in Brazil’s agriculture services sector.

The growth comes despite the difficult growing conditions created by citrus greening and high temperatures in 2023. Brazil’s orange production for the 2023-24 season was projected to drop by 1.03% year-on-year to 16.5 million metric tons, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.

While adverse conditions have contributed to lower yield and quality, the USDA still expected Brazil to represent a significant share of the U.S. orange juice market, due to production difficulties in Florida.

Brazil is the world’s largest producer of oranges and the largest exporter of orange juice and orange juice concentrate in the world, according to UN FAO data.

Brazil's orange juice inventory remains tight, however. CitrusBR members reported their second lowest inventory in a decade for frozen concentrated orange juice and juice not from concentrate. The data, recorded in December, shows 463,940.92 metric tons of inventory held by member producers. 

“Although representing an increase of 6.7% in comparison to the 434,943 tonnes from the previous season, this number is the second lowest figure in the historical series,” CitrusBR wrote.

The only year with lower inventory in the past decade was 2022. 

Meanwhile, Brazil’s Fundecitrus has been busy working with producers in major growing areas, like the state of São Paulo, on the prevention of HLB or citrus greening. Much of São Paulo remains at an extreme or high threat to the disease.