After facing shortages of mustard, oil or eggs in 2022, consumers could soon see orange juice shelves empty. The National Interprofessional Union of Fruit Juices (Unijus) warns of a global shortage of orange juice concentrates. "This raw material used to make orange juice from concentrates and orange nectars (...) has become very complicated to find for all buyers in the juice sector, "says the professional federation in a statement published Thursday and spotted by BFM Business.
The vagaries of the weather in the orange-growing regions are the cause, according to Unijus. "Florida's production has never been lower following Hurricane Ian in September 2022," she said. Similarly, "Mexican production destined mainly for the US market has also fallen by 30% this year due to drought. This is also what has been observed in Spain due to lack of water." Added to this is the choice of Florida to "disengage from citrus cultivation in favor of real estate construction," says Emmanuel Vasseneix, president of Unijus, quoted in the press release.
As a result, "the pressure has risen a notch on Brazil, already 1stworld supplier of orange juice for many years," reports the organization of the French fruit juice sector. Except that Brazilian producers are unable to fulfill all orders. "Global demand for orange juice is keeping pressure on these stocks at an all-time low," adds Unijus. Faced with this situation, delivery quotas have been put in place.
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'High prices' to be expected
Because of this bottleneck, "orange juice packers will encounter difficulties in fulfilling their orders for concentrate-based products (conventional and organic) from their distributor customers," warns Unijus. Consequently, the federation fears "risks of breakage" in the shelves of French supermarkets. "This shortage mainly affects orange juice concentrates to date but could also affect pure juices in the coming weeks by domino effect," anticipates the sector.
Under the law of supply and demand, "this situation will be accompanied by high prices" on the products that will be available on the shelves. Indeed, "the flows that went to Europe are now diverted to the United States, which creates a tension on prices," decrypts Emmanuel Vasseneix. According to his organization, the current prices of concentrated orange juice offered by suppliers are "50% higher than those offered last summer".
Consumers are expected to experience these shortages and high prices for several months. "This situation should last until September-October 2023, that is to say until the next orange juice harvest which will begin mid-June 2023," says Unijus. So you may have to get used to going without orange juice this summer.
