Orange juice futures soar as deep freeze in Florida could squeeze crop production
By Stephen Bernard, APWednesday, January 6, 2010
As temps plummet, orange juice prices heat up
NEW YORK — Orange juice futures jumped to their highest levels in two years as a prolonged freeze in Florida endangers crop production.
“This is purely weather driven,” said Richard Feltes, senior vice president and director of commodity research at MF Global.
Prices for frozen orange juice concentrate have risen sharply this week and went as high as $1.4965 per pound Wednesday — levels not seen since December 2007.
OJ for March delivery backed off those highs late in the day, and fell $1.50 to settle at $1.4205 per pound.
Energy prices were also getting a boost from the cold weather. Oil rose $1.41 to $83.18 a barrel.
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