Some McDonald’s restaurants have stopped serving it while, here, the Quebec giant Lassonde is changing its recipes and reducing the size of its bottles. Orange juice is the victim of an unprecedented crisis which is pushing its price to new heights.
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“The price of orange juice concentrate has never reached these levels,” observes a spokesperson for Lassonde, Isabelle Nadeau. This local company produces a juice well known to Quebecers, Oasis.
The futures contract for frozen and concentrated orange juice for delivery, a global price benchmark on the Chicago Stock Exchange, has jumped 140% since January 2023, going from US$199 to more than US$479.
As a result, the price of orange juice at the grocery store has skyrocketed. The evolution of the price of the 1.5 liter bottle of Oasis orange juice not made from concentrate mirrors the rest of the market in Quebec.
photo julien mcevoy
Current prices
Oasis orange juice not from concentrate (1.5 l)
4,79$ – Maxi
4,99$ – Super C
5,99$ – Metro
6,79$ – IGA
$7.49 – Incentive
Prices at the beginning of 2023
Oasis orange juice not from concentrate (1.5 l)
3,49$ – Maxi
3,49$ – Super C
3,99$ – Metro
4,49$ – IGA
$4.49 – Incentive
Source: supermarket websites, circulars
“We are doing what we can to keep price increases reasonable for the consumer. We adjust the price as the quarters go by, we try to review our recipes and even our containers with the reduction,” recognizes Isabelle Nadeau.
Lassonde predicts that the crisis and the surge in prices will last at least until 2025.
Orange juice is one of the most consumed products in the world, but for how long? Not only is its price in the carpet, but its production is threatened by a combo of disease and hurricanes.
No price drops in sight
The majority of producers who supply oranges to the Quebec giant are in Brazil, by far the world’s largest producer. Their orange groves are affected by yellow dragon disease, which reduces the number of oranges per tree and makes them smaller.
Fundecitrus, an association of citrus producers in Brazil, indicated this summer that the 2024-2025 harvest will be cut by a quarter compared to last year.
The scourge also affects Florida, another major producer. In 2004, before yellow dragon disease struck, the American state produced 200 million boxes of oranges per year, compared to 20 million today.
Florida’s production is also weakening due to the numerous hurricanes and tropical storms that hit the region.
In Quebec, “it’s made it difficult to have concentrate or oranges,” summarizes Lassonde’s spokesperson.
On the other side of the planet, in Australia, the world’s number 1 fast food chain even had to stop selling orange juice last year. McDonald’s cited supply issues to “temporarily” replace it with a sugary drink hated by many customers who complained about it online.
Quebec consumers must therefore get used to the prices currently in effect at the grocery store, because they are not about to drop any time soon.
+39%
Increase in the price of orange juice from January 2023 to September 2024 according to Statistics Canada, from $4 to $5.54 for 2 liters, a standardized container size for calculation purposes.
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