If you like orange juice, you should expect to pay a lot more for it in the coming months. Because of the bad weather in Florida, Brazil and Mexico the price of this drink shot to record highs. It is these areas that are its largest producers in the world, and that is why its price on the stock exchange has jumped by tens of percent this year. It was pointed out by the Novinky website.
Lower yield, higher price
Over the past two years, the price of orange juice has even risen by more than 300 percent. Moreover, according to experts, there is no threat of improvement in the near future. In Florida they would this year’s citrus crop may have been the smallest since 1928. As the Hrot weekly writes, a harvest of eighteen million crates is expected, while in the best seasons of the nineties and at the turn of the millennium, annual harvests were around 250 million crates.
Last year, Florida was also hit by hurricanes Irma and Ian, an unexpected January freeze and the spread of an insect-borne bacterial disease called the Asian citrus psyllid, which causes citrus greening, writes the News. Although experts are trying to solve the disease that causes citrus greening, no herbal medicines or planting different varieties or gene editing have yet worked.
Juice as an elixir of health
However, orange juice prices also depend on consumer demand, not just supply, as orange juice consumption has fallen since a brief spike in consumption during the covid pandemic, the Epochtimes website reports. You can buy in Czech stores a liter of orange juice costs from 30 to 50 crowns, it also depends on the manufacturer. “We like fruit juices, I try to make them fresh from oranges for the children, but of course we also buy the classic ones in a box or bottle. However, I don’t buy them so often that even the higher price puts me off,” said Mrs. Majka from Brno to Událostem247.
andPhoto source: Aleš Peterka for Události247
Oranges themselves are rich in vitamins A, B and C. They also contain folic acid and substances such as calcium, copper, potassium, iron and zinc. Thanks to the high fiber content, oranges prevent constipation. Their regular consumption also strengthens the immune system and ensures slower cell aging, the Fit-day website describes. It is therefore definitely worth stocking up and consuming this healthy fruit in both solid and liquid form in the coming flu and sore throat season.
