When you think of orange juice... What first comes to mind is Florida and all the citrus groves that produce oranges. But a combination of recent tropical storms and a devastating citrus-killing disease has crushed supplies in the Sunshine State.
In February, we pointed out a new trend of increasing US imports of orange juice from South America, especially Brazil, to make up for lost production in Florida. Fast forward months later, and data from Bloomberg, citing industry group CitrusBR, shows a record surge in exports of orange juice from Brazil to the US.
CitrusBR said exports of orange juice from Brazil to the US jumped 55% for the 12 months ended in June. This means more Americans than ever are drinking OJ from Florida Brazil.
And Brazilian OJ could be sticking around:
"Even if the next Florida crop shows some slight recovery, production levels are already set to be very low," said Ibiapaba Netto, executive director at CitrusBR.
Tight OJ markets in the US have sent OJ futures to a record high of $2.71 per pound.
As far as breakfast inflation, at least egg prices have crashed.
