Orange Juice Tumbles Most in Two Years as ICE Boosts Margins
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Orange juice tumbled from a four-year high, capping the biggest drop in two years, after ICE Futures U.S. boosted the amount of cash that traders must deposit for speculative positions by 95 percent.
Prices soared 17 percent in the past two days on concern that a freeze in Florida damaged citrus groves and that a U.S. probe of a fungicide used on fruit in Brazil, the world’s largest orange grower, may limit imports. The New York exchange almost doubled the initial margin for a speculative contract to $5,040 from $2,590. As of yesterday, each contract for 15,000 pounds (6.8 metric tons) of juice was valued at $31,162.50.