Oranges, Grapefruit, Tangerines, and Tangelos Grown in Florida; Relaxing Limits on the Volume of Small Red Seedless Grapefruit

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is adopting, as a final rule, without change, an interim final rule that relaxed the weekly limits on small red seedless grapefruit entering the fresh market under the marketing order covering oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and tangelos grown in Florida (order). The Citrus Administrative Committee (Committee), which locally administers the order, recommended this action. This rule finalizes a relaxation of the weekly limitation set for shipments of small-sized red seedless grapefruit entering the fresh market from 40 percent to 50 percent during the last week of the 22- week regulatory period. This change provided an additional volume of small red seedless grapefruit to address marketing conditions without saturating all markets with these small sizes. This rule helped stabilize the market and improve grower returns.