Prices for orange juice have risen to their highest since futures contracts started trading in New York in 1966, as an outlook for limited production in the U.S., Brazil and Mexico boosted investors' interest in the product, The Epoch Times reported. The January contract of frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) hit an all-time high of $4.17 per pound during the session, before falling back to $3.83 per pound. The contract was up 90 percent this year. The January OJ position, for example, had an open interest of 8,111 lots at the end of trading on Monday. As a comparison, the most traded contract among the soft commodities, ICE's raw sugar, had over 435,000 lots in open interest. Beyond the speculative game, however, fundamentals are extremely positive, with negative weather and a bacterial disease called greening having reduced production in the three main growers Mexico, U.S. and Brazil. Florida's production also has been hit by hurricanes in recent years. Ibiapaba Netto, executive director at CitrusBR, the association representing Brazilian juice producers, said that a reversal of the current tight supply situation would take time and is not certain to happen. Brazil has a 75 percent share of the global orange juice trade. Netto said fruit producers are afraid to invest to expand orchards fearing the greening disease. "Our last large crop was five years ago. We are in a situation of basically zero stocks," he said. (Subscription required to view article.)
