Orange juice is healthy and an integral part of our daily lives. By the way, it is one of the most popular fruit juices among Austrians. A new plant disease, hurricanes and empty warehouses now make the vitamin donor an expensive commodity.
The price of (frozen, concentrated) orange juice on the American commodity exchange has almost doubled in the past twelve months. While the pound was still $1.79 (1.67 euros) in September 2022, the 52-week high is now $3.51.
The costs are higher than ever
“Prices on the world market for orange juice are higher than ever before,” Florian Berger, director of the Austrian Fruit Juice Industry Association in the Food Industry Association, said in a press release on Wednesday. The price of orange juice has tripled in three years.
The crises were especially serious in the United States
The US Department of Agriculture estimated that global orange production for the 2022/2023 marketing year is five percent below the previous year’s level. Experts predicted the slump would be particularly severe in the US, where output is likely to fall to the lowest level in more than 56 years.
The main reasons for this are the spread of a plant disease – so-called citrus greening – and the effects of hurricanes on crop quantities in Florida. But the bad weather also had a negative impact on harvest volumes in Brazil, the largest orange producing country, and in Europe.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
