First it was egg prices. Now it's oranges.
The price of orange juice continues to climb. According to Trading Economics, which tracks commodities prices, the price of orange juice has increased by 78% since the beginning of the year.
Supply shortages in Florida due to hurricanes are driving prices higher. Extreme weather events and greening crop diseases have also impacted the orange crop in Brazil.
Orange juice future prices reached a record high of $3.56 per pound on Tuesday. Prices have nearly tripled since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, when they were just under $1 per pound.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that the 2022-2023 Florida season will produce 16 million boxes of oranges, 61% less than the 2020-2021 season’s final production.
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On Walmart.com, a 52-ounce bottle of Simply Orange brand orange juice was selling for $3.98 this week.
Florida, the biggest producer of oranges in the U.S., has been hit especially hard due to the impact of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Ian. Brazil, the world's top orange juice producer, has been coping with the impacts of extreme weather and disease.
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