Buyout of citrus processor expected soon

Members of the Citrus Growers Association are being reminded not to miss the organisation’s annual general meeting on October nineteenth… and it appears that when they gather, it will be to hear some long awaited news. Industry sources tell News 5 that negotiations for the C.G.A.’s buyout of the sole citrus processor, Del Oro, are virtually complete and may be finalised as early as Monday. For growers, the deal is well timed as recently improved world prices for citrus exports have remained firm and it is likely that grapefruit prices will increase further as a result of hurricanes Isidore and Lili. Both those storms battered Cuba’s Isle of Youth and destroyed much of that country’s grapefruit crop, almost all of which is sold on the European market.