ROYAL OAK, Mich. (WXYZ) — Citrus fruits will be heavily impacted by Hurricane Ian, but the timeline of when you’ll see these items depleting may surprise you.
"We try to prepare the best we can but a lot of times we just have to deal with the shortages that we have," said Cory Shear, produce associate, Holiday Market Royal Oak.
Cory Shear has worked in produce at Holiday Market Royal Oak for over a decade. He tells us he’s seen the local effects of many southern storms.
"It’s all affected in a very delayed manner so we won’t actually know the damage until it was after the hurricane has passed," said Shear.
7 Action News' Sarah Grimmer asked, "Is that almost even worse? You would think holiday time is when families are really bulking up on a lot of this produce and that’s when we’ll see the effects."
"Oh, exactly, exactly. So that’s when you might see a lot of price increases just from the short supplies," Shear said of potential local impacts from Hurricane Ian.
South Florida produces 70% of U.S. citrus and the storm’s high winds are expected to destroy much of this season’s crops before the harvest has even begun, resulting in less oranges, clementines, and even bananas.
"The demand definitely goes up," Shear said of produce sourced from Florida after storms.
In 2017, when Hurricane Irma hit, consumers saw demand and prices for orange juice rise, specifically. This data has been tracked and stored by Bindiya Vakil.
Vakil's company, Resilinc, tracks supply chain disruptions and provides early warnings.
"So, there are producers outside of Florida who rely on the Port of Florida to ship products that will also experience an impact," said Bindiya Vakil, Founder and CEO of Resilinc.
According to Vakil, we should also expect local impacts from Hurricane Ian in aerospace, plastics, pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
Hurricane Ian may last a few days along Florida, but its impact will be felt across the state for months to come.
"As consumers, we should be expecting to see some price increases at the store whether it's grocery stores or gas stations," Vakil said.
Going into the holiday season Cory said his advice is to shop one to two weeks ahead of time to ensure you get the produce you want.
