Wednesday’s trading didn’t just start badly for equities traders – orange juice futures also suffered a drop, as a bumper crop from Florida may arrive just as demand for juice falls.
Futures on the IntercontinentalExchange in New York fell 1.4 percent to $1.3705 per pound at 10:15 a.m. EST, reported Bloomberg News.
Today’s fall follows a 3.7 percent drop yesterday. Florida is projected to increase its output of oranges by as much as 25 million boxes in the next harvest, which could lead to a glut of supply in the markets.
Demand isn’t doing much better: James Cordier, a portfolio manager in Tampa, Florida, told Bloomberg News that “The dismal figures out of Washington are weighing on the market. The U.S. is not doing well in terms of demand for orange juice.”
Other soft commodities dropped as well – No. 11 sugar futures on the ICE lost 1.4 percent to 18.30 cents per pound, while cocoa futures lost 1.9 percent to $2,874 per metric ton.
