According to new government data, Florida’s famous orange groves are projected to bear one of the smallest crops in decades, even at this period in time when Americans are consuming orange juice in an attempt to battle the Covid virus. Still, the upcoming supply deficit could draw more investors and lift futures markets for orange juice.
Jack Scoville, a vice president for Price Futures Group in Chicago, has stated that ‘bullish’ numbers from Tuesday’s USDA report should support prices and that ‘demand from consumers at home remains strong’.
Florida’s projected orange output will be just 54 million boxes in 2020-21, down from 56 million projected last month, and down 20% year-on-year, the USDA report said. It will be the least fruit since 2017, and the second smallest crop since 1947. The top-growing state’s oranges are used mostly for juice production. Plantings have also plunged, with total citrus acreage last year falling to a record low in a government data series that began in 1966.
Source: finance.yahoo.com
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