Brazil
, the world’s largest exporter of orange juice, is set to have its worst
harvest
in 36 years after a
heat wave
severely hurt crops, according to research group
Fundecitrus
.
The country will produce only 232.4 million boxes — each weighing 90 pounds — for the season that started this month, Fundecitrus said in a Friday report. That’s a 24% decline from a year earlier.
Orange juice futures rose as much as 5% to the highest in three months before trimming gains at the
ICE Futures US
.
The commodity has gained 26% this year.
Excessive heat brought stress to
orange trees
during a crucial period of flowering and early fruit formation between September and November last year. Further hurting output is an increase in
citrus greening
, a disease that causes fruit to prematurely drop from trees, Fundecitrus said.
Poor production in Brazil will likely have a dramatic impact on global orange juice supply, as the country accounts for about 70% of total exports of the beverage.
A
global shortage
of oranges has been aggravated by declining output from US top juice producer Florida, following decades of damage from disease spread. Florida is producing only 17.8 million boxes of oranges in the season ending in July, according to a US Department of Agriculture forecast released Friday. That’s down 5% from a previous forecast.
