The hurricane hit Florida, one of the largest orange producers in the United States, hard.
Significant damage was noted, even though the harvest was already looking disastrous this year.
A situation which contributes to a new surge in prices.
Will the price of orange juice increase (again)? While the market is already strongly impacted by yellow dragon disease and climatic hazards (new window)the passage of Hurricane Milton worsened the situation. The deadly storm particularly hit Florida and Polk, Hardee, DeSoto and Highlands counties, among the fruit’s largest producers.
“Farmers are in the orchards trying to get an idea of the damageexplained to AFP on Thursday October 17, Matt Joyner, director of the Florida Citrus Mutual, a professional organization for Florida citrus producers. We are observing a significant number of fruits that have fallen to the ground.” In the past, severe weather events have caused losses of more than 60%.
The liter of orange juice more expensive than the liter of gasoline
Milton’s visit comes as the 2024 harvest was already looking disastrous. According to figures published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the estimated harvest before the passage of the hurricane was down 16% compared to the previous one and 84% in ten years. Between the storms and yellow dragon disease, also called Huanglongbing disease (HLB), the variety most used for juice, has fallen to its lowest level since the 1964/65 harvest.
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“If we take into account Milton and the tornadoes, production will be the lowest since the 1920s”anticipated Judy Ganes, specialist analyst from J. Ganes Consulting. On Wednesday, October 16, the futures contract for frozen concentrated orange juice, a wholesale market benchmark, gained 0.97%, to $5.0140 per pound (around 450 grams). Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, it has quintupled.
At current prices, a liter of concentrated orange juice is worth several times its equivalent in gasoline. Bad news for the wallets of the French, who consume large quantities. On average, they drink 24.1 liters per year per person, or half of the consumption of all fruit juices in the country.
