Commodities
Florida’s Hurricane-Hit Orange Crop Means Juice Shortage to Worsen
- Orange crop in Florida shrinks 51%, most in data going to 1913
- State is biggest orange juice producer, major grower
A worker unloads oranges into a basket during a harvest in Avon Park, Florida.
Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
America’s top orange juice maker is set for a record decline in the crop this season, signaling that a global shortage of the breakfast beverage will only get worse.
Florida will likely produce 20 million boxes of oranges in the season that runs Oct. 2022 to Sept. 2023, down 51% from the year-ago period — the biggest drop in data going back to 1913, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand report, or WASDE. That would also be the smallest output since 1937. A box weighs 90 pounds (41 kilograms).