Many people enjoy a glass of orange juice in the morning (Picture: Getty)
Breakfast has been postponed until further notice – because the orange juice industry is facing a crisis.
Oranges are in short supply.
Around 50 million tons of oranges are grown each year, with a large chunk, just over a third (34%), grown in Brazil.
Brazil is also the world’s biggest exporter of orange juice, and produces around 70% of the global supply.
But as extreme drought and heat stress impacts the crops’ flowering period, combined with increasing rates of citrus greening disease – an incurable bacterial infection – Brazil’s orange production has been falling, including by more than 24% this season.
This has had a significant effect on the price of orange juice, which has soared by more than 20% in a year.
Orange crops are failing across the world (Picture: Getty/500px)
And it’s not just Brazil that is suffering declining production. Other countries including Israel, Spain and Argentina have also reduced their orange output as the world struggles to keep up with demand.
Hurricanes in Florida, another major orange-growing region, have destroyed harvests, and its surviving crop is also facing a battle with citrus greening disease.
As a short term solution, orange producers have considered merging the crop with frozen juice that has a lifespan of around two years, and organisations are lobbying for orange juice to be made in combination with other citrus fruits such as mandarins.
But, although this solution may sound like a good idea to juice fans, adding other fruits would need additional transportation and logistics to be taken into account, potentially further raising costs.
Orange juice prices will rise as production falls (Picture: Getty)
Speaking to the Telegraph, Innocent’s CEO Nick Canney said that conditions such as drought, disease and extreme weather in Brazil and Florida will ‘definitely’ increase prices of the drink.
‘Over time, it will definitely move prices forward again,’ he said. ‘You have to try and work out how to keep it affordable for people. Genuinely, we’re not profiteering from it at all.
‘We’re just trying to work out how to price it in the right way. Orange within the category [of food and drink] we’re in is 40% of the business. You can’t not have orange juice.
‘Prices will feed through, and whether it’s through promotions, or pack sizes or pricing, ultimately there will need to be changes ahead. Anyone who’s supplying or manufacturing orange juice will be under the same pressures as us.’
What is citrus greening disease?
Once a tree is affected there is no control or cure, and affected trees will bear bitter fruit, which is unsuitable for sale or juicing
The disease is passed on through the Asian citrus psyllid, a little bug that originates in Asia but now has been found across the US, South America and Africa
It poses no threat to humans or animals, but destroys all types of citrus trees, including orange, grapefruit, lemon and lime
A spokesman for the British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA) called it ‘an unprecedented situation’.
‘Producers are trying to find efficiencies to help absorb and avoid passing significant price rises onto consumers, but inevitably there has been some inflation on the product due to the chronic difficulties around obtaining oranges for juicing,’ they said.
‘It should be noted that most other juice products are not seeing the same shortages of their constituent fruit.’