No more orange juice in our supermarkets? While the situation is not yet at this stage, fruit juice manufacturers are worried about a "global shortage" of concentrates that could affect all orange juice ranges "in the coming weeks".
Unijus, the interprofessional union of the French fruit juice industry, warns of a shortage of orange juice concentrates, both conventional and organic, "observed on the world market". A material that is used to manufacture today 23.3% of sales of orange juice and nectars in supermarkets and which is now very complicated to find for manufacturers.
A situation that will last until September
How to explain it? "Global warming is accelerating things," says Emmanuel Vasseneix, president of Unijus. Hurricane Ian last fall in Florida and drought in Mexico have caused production in the region to drop by nearly 30%. A drop in production that affects the price. "The ton of concentrated juice is bought today 3400 € per ton against 2600 € during the previous harvest," recalls the president of Unijus.
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Today, this shortage mainly affects orange juice concentrates but could also affect pure juices in the coming weeks "by domino effect", explains the interprofessional union of the French fruit juice sector in a statement published on its website. This situation should last until "September-October 2023" according to Unijus, the next orange juice harvest.