Absolutely. Sugar apple is a very different commercial proposition from mango, guava, and dragon fruit. The fruit can command a high price because it is delicate, highly perishable, and difficult to ship long distances—but that same perishability makes the crop much more dependent on a nearby specialty market.
🍈 Sugar Apple Prices & Grower Economics — Central Florida, 2026
Sugar apple is also called sweetsop, custard apple, and annon. The botanical name is Annona squamosa.
🇺🇸 What is sugar apple selling for in Florida?
The best Florida-specific economic benchmark I found comes from UF/IFAS.
Their commercial model uses an average FOB Homestead packinghouse price of $2.00/lb. That study is based on 2016 grower prices, so it should not be treated as today’s exact price, but it is still the best published Florida commercial benchmark I found. �
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Because sugar apple is extremely delicate and has a short postharvest life, it generally isn’t shipped long distances like commodity mangoes. UF/IFAS specifically notes that this limits long-distance shipping. �
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For a Central Florida grower selling locally, I would therefore think about the market roughly like this:
Market
Planning price
Packinghouse/commodity
~$2.00/lb benchmark
Local wholesale
$2–$3/lb
Specialty retail
$3–$5/lb
Direct-to-consumer premium
$4–$7+/lb
The last three are planning ranges rather than published statewide averages. Sugar apple has such a small U.S. commercial industry that reliable daily Florida price data are scarce.
And that scarcity is actually part of the opportunity.
🌎 What does sugar apple cost around the world?
There is a very wide range.
India
May 2026 wholesale data show fresh sugar apple averaging approximately:
$0.46/kg = $0.21/lb
although individual export transactions were considerably higher. �
Tridge Insights +1
Thailand
Recent wholesale prices are approximately:
$0.52–$0.98/lb
depending on market and variety. �
Tridge
Another current Thailand data set shows approximately $0.33–$0.73/lb over the recent period. �
Tridge
Spain
May 2026 wholesale data show approximately:
$3.49/kg = $1.58/lb. �
Tridge Insights
So, roughly:
Market
Approx. wholesale price
🇮🇳 India
~$0.20–$0.50/lb
🇹🇭 Thailand
~$0.35–$1.00/lb
🇪🇸 Spain
~$1.58/lb
🇺🇸 Florida historical FOB
~$2.00/lb
There are also premium varieties that command substantially more. For example, India’s ICAR reports that its improved Arka Sahan variety has achieved market prices of ₹100–₹180/kg, approximately $0.50–$0.90/lb, while early/off-season fruit can command premium pricing. �
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
🌳 How much can a sugar apple tree produce?
This is where sugar apple is quite different from mango.
UF/IFAS reports that a mature tree—5 years or older—can produce:
10–50 lb/tree/year
depending upon cultivar, climate and management. �
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UF/IFAS uses 25 lb/tree as its commercial planning average.
That’s considerably less fruit per tree than mango.
However, sugar apple trees are much smaller and can be planted considerably closer together.
📏 How many trees per acre?
The UF/IFAS commercial model uses:
200 trees per acre
at approximately:
15 ft × 15 ft spacing
At the 25-lb average yield:
200 × 25 = 5,000 lb/acre
UF/IFAS then assumes an 80% packout, resulting in:
4,000 marketable lb/acre
That’s the key commercial benchmark. �
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💰 What could one acre produce in sales?
Using the UF/IFAS benchmark of 4,000 marketable pounds per acre:
Average selling price
Gross revenue/acre
$1.50/lb
$6,000
$2.00/lb
$8,000
$2.50/lb
$10,000
$3.00/lb
$12,000
$4.00/lb
$16,000
$5.00/lb
$20,000
$6.00/lb
$24,000
$7.00/lb
$28,000
So even though the yield is relatively modest, the selling price can make the crop worthwhile.
📊 What does UF/IFAS estimate for profit?
This is particularly useful because UF/IFAS has an actual sugar-apple enterprise budget.
At:
4,000 marketable lb/acre
and
$2.00/lb FOB
the model produces:
Gross revenue: $8,000/acre
Total annual cost:
$5,175/acre
Estimated gross margin:
$3,975/acre
Estimated net return:
$2,825/acre
or about:
$0.71 net per marketable pound
�
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Again, this is an established South Florida orchard model using historical costs and prices, not a 2026 Central Florida guarantee.
📈 What happens if you sell directly?
This is where sugar apple gets much more interesting.
Suppose you have the same 4,000 marketable pounds:
At $3/lb
4,000 × $3 = $12,000
At $4/lb
4,000 × $4 = $16,000
At $5/lb
4,000 × $5 = $20,000
At $6/lb
4,000 × $6 = $24,000
At $7/lb
4,000 × $7 = $28,000
I would not build a business plan assuming $7/lb for the entire crop.
But if you can sell a meaningful portion directly to customers, restaurants, ethnic markets, farmers markets or through preorders, the economics can improve substantially.
🍈 A realistic blended-sales model
For a small Central Florida grower, I’d consider something like:
1,500 lb wholesale × $2 = $3,000
1,500 lb local retail × $4 = $6,000
1,000 lb premium direct × $6 = $6,000
Total:
$15,000 gross/acre
That’s an average realized price of:
$3.75/lb
without requiring you to sell the entire crop at the premium price.
❄️ But here’s the BIG problem for Central Florida
This is where I would be much more cautious about sugar apple than guava.
UF/IFAS specifically describes sugar apple as:
Cold sensitive
and says the trees do not tolerate freezing temperatures. �
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UF/IFAS also says Florida production is concentrated in warm locations along the lower southeast and southwest coasts, with most commercial production historically located in Miami-Dade County. �
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Their home-landscape guide lists sugar apple’s cold-damage threshold around 28–30°F, which is a major consideration in Central Florida. �
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This changes my recommendation considerably.
If you’re around the Lake Wales/Polk County area, I would not plant a full acre of sugar apple first.
I’d test the microclimate.
A warm, protected location might perform surprisingly well, but a significant freeze could cause serious damage.
🌱 The other problem: pollination
Sugar apple fruit set can be inconsistent.
UF/IFAS notes that yields vary with:
climate
natural pollinators
disease
insects
cultural practices
and yield can range from approximately:
20–50 fruit/tree
or roughly:
10–50 lb/tree
�
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That variability makes sugar apple considerably less predictable than a crop where you can count on a relatively stable yield.
🏆 But sugar apple has one huge advantage
It is extremely difficult to ship long distances.
That sounds like a disadvantage.
For a Central Florida grower, it can actually be an economic moat.
A Mexican or Indian grower cannot simply flood the Central Florida market with perfectly ripe sugar apples because the fruit is fragile and has a short shelf life.
UF/IFAS specifically notes that sugar apple’s short postharvest life limits long-distance shipping. �
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That means:
A ripe sugar apple picked locally can be a fundamentally different product from an imported sugar apple.
That is exactly the kind of characteristic that favors farm-direct sales.
🍈 Specialty varieties could make a difference
Florida’s principal sugar-apple selections include:
Thai Lessard
Green fruit.
Purple/Red
Red or purple skin.
Kampong Mauve
Purplish-red fruit.
There is also Cuban Seedless/Brazilian Seedless, although UF/IFAS notes that the seedless type has problems with fruit splitting and reportedly inferior quality/yield compared with seeded types. �
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For commercial purposes, I would be more interested in high-quality, productive varieties with good fruit size and customer appeal than simply planting whatever sugar-apple seed happens to be available.
🌎 There is an interesting Indian example
ICAR recently highlighted Arka Sahan, an improved Annona hybrid, rather than conventional Annona squamosa.
A seven-year-old plantation reportedly produced approximately:
3.2 metric tons/acre
That’s about:
7,055 lb/acre
with reported market prices of ₹100–₹180/kg.
ICAR reports gross returns around ₹571,000/acre and net profit around ₹328,000/acre under its Karnataka production system. �
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
That’s not directly transferable to Florida—the climate, cultivar, labor costs and market are different—but it demonstrates that cultivar selection and off-season production can dramatically change the economics.
🥭🍈 How sugar apple compares with the other fruits we’ve looked at
Factor
Sugar Apple
Guava
Mango
Dragon Fruit
Marketable yield benchmark
4,000 lb/ac
~8,000
~18,700
~19,000
Trees/plants per acre
200
~150
~80
varies
Historical Florida wholesale benchmark
$2/lb
~$2/lb
~$0.41/lb
higher
Potential direct price
$4–$7+
$3–$5+
$3–$9+ specialty
$5–$8+
Tree begins production
~3–5 yrs
~3–4 yrs
~3–5 yrs
~2–4 yrs
Mature yield/tree
10–50 lb
50–80 lb
220–330 lb
highly variable
Freeze risk in Central FL
VERY HIGH
Moderate
High
High
Postharvest life
Very short
Short/moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Direct-market opportunity
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Commodity-market potential
⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐
💵 My Central Florida planning numbers
If you were sitting down with a spreadsheet today and asked me what numbers I’d use, I’d start here:
Conservative
3,000 lb marketable × $2/lb
= $6,000 gross/acre
Moderate
4,000 lb × $2.50
= $10,000 gross/acre
Good specialty operation
4,000 lb × $3.50
= $14,000 gross/acre
Strong direct-market operation
4,000 lb × $5
= $20,000 gross/acre
Premium direct market
4,000 lb × $6
= $24,000 gross/acre
I would use approximately:
$8,000–$15,000 gross/acre
as a more conservative Central Florida planning range.
A very good direct-to-consumer operation could potentially push toward $20,000+ gross/acre, but I’d consider that upside.
⭐ My overall assessment for Central Florida
Of the four crops we’ve now examined:
🥭 Mango — highest potential production and very strong specialty market
🐉 Dragon fruit — potentially very high revenue but high infrastructure/labor requirements
🍈 Guava — excellent small-farm crop with relatively quick production and good marketability
🍏 Sugar apple — potentially excellent specialty crop, but the highest freeze risk and one of the lowest yields
For Central Florida specifically, I’d rank sugar apple:
Market potential: 9/10
Profit potential: 7/10
Production reliability: 5/10
Freeze resistance: 2/10
Direct-sale potential: 9/10
Suitability for a protected microclimate: 8/10
Suitability for an exposed Central Florida acre: 3/10
The biggest takeaway is that I would not choose sugar apple for Central Florida based solely on the $/lb. I’d choose it only if the planting site has an unusually favorable microclimate.
If you are deciding what to plant commercially, guava is probably the safer starting point, while sugar apple could be an excellent specialty crop in a smaller protected planting.
And one thing I would seriously consider is planting a mixed tropical-fruit acre rather than committing the entire acre to one fruit. That can spread your harvest season, reduce your weather risk, and let you discover which fruit commands the best price from your particular Central Florida customers.
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