Frosty American weather will impact citrus fruit prices

Cold weather has large parts of the United States in a frosty grip and that could be bad news for citrus fruit and fruit juices’ prices. Manufacturer Florida is in the middle of the bad weather.

Worst harvest in 70 years’ time

Florida is one of the largest citrus fruit-producing regions in the world, but it has also faced exceptional levels of snow and ice. It is currently colder in Florida than in Alaska, which is why the citrus trees are freezing. The result is that there are smaller harvests, including of oranges, even though the harvest levels were already lower after hurricane Irma’s passage in October. Back then, the forecast was that Florida would have its smallest harvest since 1946, but the continued cold weather have weakened the harvest even more.  

Another important state for citrus fruit harvest is California, but that state is also facing a very weak harvest. Years of drought and a sudden rainfall back in the spring have damaged a lot of blossoms.

Price increases

These weak harvests will mainly impact our fruit juice prices, because 40 % of the global orange juice hails from Florida. The news has not resulted in price hikes so far, but VRT NWS says these will definitely follow.

Countries like Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Cina and India, which all manufacture a lot of citrus fruit, will take full advantage of the weak harvest in the United States, because they will most likely cover for the shortages.

Concentrate-based juices will not experience enormous price increases, because the concentrate is frozen anyway and there are still supplies. The global orange fruit juice demand has been dwindling for years, which means its price will face only limited increases.