The price of orange juice futures contracts hit a 34-year high on Tuesday after the main US food safety regulator said it would block imports containing a fungicide commonly used in Brazil, the leading producer of the citrus fruit, the FT reports. The Food and Drug Administration’s announcement sent traders scrambling to prepare for the possibility of lower inventories in the middle of the US winter, when the New York futures market is most at risk of a harsh freeze in Florida’s organge groves. Frozen concentrated orange juice for January delivery rose 9.7 per cent to $2.1275 a pound on the ICE Futures US exchange, the highest since November 1977 and a record nominal closing price. It has risen 25.9 per cent so far this year. The more heavily traded March and May futures gained by the exchange limit of 20 cents.

This entry was posted by Izabella Kaminska on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 at 10:07 and is featured in The Lunch Wrap (11 Jan 2012) . Tagged with commodities, FDA, florida, orange juice. Edit this entry.