Orange Juice Rises to Two-Week High on Florida Storm Outlook; Cotton Gains
Orange-juice futures rose to a two- week high on speculation that a tropical storm heading toward Florida will damage citrus groves in the state, the world’s second-largest producer. Cotton rose to a two-week high.
Tropical Storm Bonnie may produce heavy rain across the extreme southern end of Florida’s orange-growing region, said Chris Hyde, a meteorologist at MDA EarthSat Weather Inc. in Rockville, Maryland. Prices have jumped 52 percent in the past year as farmers harvested an estimated 18 percent fewer oranges than the previous season.
The threat of storm damage is “definitely why we are seeing prices pick up,” said Carlos Sanchez, an associate director of research at CPM Group in New York, a commodities consulting firm. “Even strong wind has the potential to damage the orange crop.”
Orange juice for September delivery rose 1.6 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $1.4565 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, after touching $1.4575, the highest level for a most-active contract since July 7. The commodity gained for a sixth straight day, the longest rally since January, and 3.9 percent for the week.
“It’s very unusual for a tropical storm to hit Florida at this time of year,” MDA EarthSat Weather’s Hyde said. “Storms normally don’t start until August or September.” Bonnie is the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which lasts through November.
The orange harvest in Florida this year, estimated at 133.6 million boxes, will be the second-smallest in two decades, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on July 9. A box of oranges weighs 90 pounds, or 41 kilograms.
Storm Warnings
Tropical storm warnings are posted along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Destin, Florida, to Morgan City, Louisiana, and remain in effect for the northwestern Bahamas, as well as Florida’s east coast from Deerfield Beach to the Keys, the National Hurricane Center said. A warning means that tropical-storm conditions are expected within 36 hours.
In another New York market, cotton futures rose on signs that overseas demand is eroding inventories in the U.S., the world’s largest exporter.
Stockpiles monitored by ICE dropped to 55,389 bales yesterday, down 27 percent from July 21 and 95 percent since June 2, exchange data show. China, the biggest user, will consume 47.5 million bales for the marketing year ending July 31, up 8 percent from a year earlier, according to the USDA.
“Mills have been scurrying to find cotton, which can be darn hard to find this time of year,” said Sharon Johnson, a senior analyst at First Capitol Group LLC in Atlanta. Chinese mills are “leading the parade” for cotton imports, she said.
Cotton futures for December delivery rose 0.63 cent, or 0.8 percent, to 75.34 cents a pound, after touching 75.54 cents, the highest price for the most-active contract since July 6. For the week, cotton gained 1.9 percent, the first increase in five weeks.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer A. Johnson in Chicago at Jjohnson133@bloomberg.net
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