Situation with orange juice comes to a head - no relief in sight

17-Jul-2023 - Germany

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After initial forecasts in May, there is now certainty: orange juice concentrate is becoming scarce worldwide. "We are in the most difficult situation for more than 50 years. With the crop failures in the USA and the historically low stock levels in Brazil, an unprecedented market situation has developed as a result of which the availability of orange juice concentrate is currently massively limited," says Klaus Heitlinger, Managing Director of the German Fruit Juice Industry Association, describing the situation. "It is becoming apparent that the massive shortage will lead to a significant increase in the price of orange juice concentrate; clear trends can already be seen on the world market," Heitlinger continues. Unless there are bumper harvests in Brazil and the USA next year to replenish stocks, this tense situation will not change much.

Weather extremes and plant disease cause tense market situation

In Brazil - the world's largest producer of orange juice concentrate and the most important EU supplier with a 90 percent market share - weak to average harvests in recent years have led to sharply declining inventories. Inventories have fallen to virtually zero by the end of June 2023. It is becoming apparent that the current 2023/2024 harvest will again be weak. This is due to persistently poor weather periods, with the result that stocks cannot be replenished until further notice.

In the USA, the harvest expectation is around 16 million boxes, 62 percent below last season's harvest, which was already very low at 41 million boxes.

Market experts are talking about a near total crop failure due to hurricanes and the preparation of citrus greening, a plant disease that greatly affects growth and fruiting, including the death of affected trees.

Unfortunately, Mexico and Spain are also unable to relieve the tense market situation, as crop yields here are also below average due to weather conditions. In Mexico, harvest volumes are down 35 percent compared to average years.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1181084/situation-with-orange-juice-comes-to-a-head-no-relief-in-sight.html