Orange juice production in the country falls to the lowest level in 5 years, says association

The production of orange juice in Brazil in the 2021/22 harvest was estimated this Friday at 820.5 thousand tons, a reduction of about 2% compared to the previous year, setting the lowest level since the 2016/17 season, after a crop in which everything went “wrong” in terms of weather, said the exporters association CitrusBR.

The number indicates a drop of about 5% compared to a previous forecast released before the effects of drought and frosts that hit crops in 2021 in the main producing region, in São Paulo and Minas Gerais, became clearer.

In addition, the industrial yield of the crop was below expectations, which should contribute to a squeeze in the juice supply of the largest producer and global exporter until the next season (2022/23), which begins in the second half of the year.

“The weather effects widely publicized throughout the 2021/22 harvest, such as prolonged drought and frosts, affected the process of fruit development and maturation, impacting the acidity levels of the juice produced,” said CitrusBR executive director Ibiapaba Netto. .

“In terms of ‘harvest’, this was one of the worst ever: what could go wrong, did,” he told Reuters.

The industrial performance was affected by several factors, including a delay in the maturation of the crop, frosts and, finally, “there was still a very rainy period in the last two months of the crop that helped to ‘fill’ the fruits with a little more water and dilute the solids”, commented Netto.

The result of lower production is Brazil’s frozen juice and concentrate stocks (Fcoj equivalent to 66 brix) heading to one of the lowest levels in history. Passage volumes for the 2021/22 cycle should total 126.5 thousand tons, the lowest level since 2017.

That means a drop of about 60% compared to the previous season’s ending stocks, according to association data.

Netto recalled that the country had two small harvests in a row, “which greatly tightened the availability of fruit for processing and, consequently, the amount of juice produced”.

According to him, demand “will certainly be affected as there will be no product to fully meet the market until the 2022/23 crop becomes available”.

“All this should be priced by the market in the coming months,” he said.

Orange juice prices in New York peaked from August 2018 to the end of last month, at approximately $1.61 per pound, before falling back to $1.33, according to the latest quotes.

Brazil exports orange juice mainly to the European Union, which accounts for about 65% of Brazilian shipments, followed by the United States, with approximately 20%. Among other important importers are Japan and China, with around 5% each.