Dive Brief:

• California lost some 40% of its mandarins during the cold snap that hit in December, according to officials. That makes mandarins the hardest-hit among the states' crops.
• The wasted fruit totaled some 4.7 million cartons — representing a loss to growers of around $150 million.
• Damage estimates from the freeze continue to rise.The latest tally from California Citrus Mutual puts the combined losses of all citrus fruits at $441 million.

Dive Insight:

This is the time of year when mandarins should be selling like crazy. They may be the sweetest winter fruit grown in the States, and they are extraordinarily popular among Asian-American families as they celebrate the Lunar New Year. But this year, shoppers have been hard-pressed to find good mandarins from California.

The big winners in this are the folks who import mandarins from Spain and Morocco. Sales of that fruit have been great this season.