Photo/Illutration “Mikan” mandarin oranges from different production areas on sale at the Super Akidai store in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward (The Asahi Shimbun)

Wondering why “mikan” mandarin oranges are so expensive this winter?

Blame the scorching heat of summer and an insect infestation that pushed wholesale prices to one of their highest levels ever.

Hiromichi Akiba, president of a supermarket chain, noted that mikan are normally viewed as an everyday item at this time of year.

“But (with these prices) you cannot lightly tuck into them this winter,” he said. 

In mid-January, mikan on sale at his Super Akidai store in Tokyo’s Nerima were priced about 20 percent higher than in the average year.

The price of mikan from Hamamatsu’s Mikkabi district, a famous production area in Shizuoka Prefecture, was set at 780 yen ($5) per basket, excluding tax.

Nationwide, sales prices averaged 769 yen per kilogram in the first half of December, more than 120 yen higher than a year earlier, a farm ministry survey showed.

At the four largest markets in Japan, wholesale prices in early January averaged 457 yen per kilogram, including tax, according to the Japan Fruit Growers Cooperative Association.

An association official said the price is the highest in five years.

A 64-year-old grower in Iyo, Ehime Prefecture, who usually ships 2,000 cases a year, each containing 20 kilograms, said he expects only about one-10th this winter.

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The skin of a “mikan” mandarin orange is cracked due to autumn rain (Provided by Hirofumi Hokuto)

In spring, fruit fell from many trees or became distorted because of stink bugs that have survived the mild winter.

Loads of mikan were exposed to too much sun and remained green.

The grower said he had never experienced a combination of such adverse conditions in his nearly 40-year career.

“If this heat continues, growing areas will not survive,” he said.

Hirofumi Hokuto, a grower in Kainan, Wakayama Prefecture, also had a poor harvest of an early variety due to damage from stink bugs and heat.

Growers in the district harvest the fruit at the end of the year and ripen them in a warehouse for a few months before shipments.

Hokuto, 53, said he is worried whether the fruit will taste good after the storage period, partly because they have a low acidity due to summer heat and other factors.

The situation is roughly the same in Shizuoka Prefecture, the main supplier of the fruit at this time of year.

Shipments of fruit grown outdoors in the prefecture are expected to be more than 10 percent smaller than usual, according to the prefectural federation of agricultural cooperative associations.

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