ANN/THE STAR – An unprecedented orange juice crisis is impacting consumers in Japan, driven by supply shortages caused by natural disasters and a fruit tree disease in orange-producing countries, Jiji Press reported.
Many Japanese manufacturers have been forced to suspend sales of orange juice products.
The yen’s depreciation has contributed to the recent surge in orange juice prices, as Japan relies almost entirely on imported orange juice. The average import price of frozen concentrated orange juice shot up from 293 yen per litre in 2021 to JPY550 in 2023 and JPY706 in January-March, according to estimates based on the Japanese Finance Ministry’s trade statistics.
The upward momentum in orange juice prices shows no signs of abating. On the United States (US) Intercontinental Exchange, the key frozen concentrated orange juice futures contract hit an all-time high in May.
The current orange juice crisis is due mainly to drought, torrential rain and a tree disease in Brazil, a major orange producer, as well as extensive hurricane damage in the US.
Japan’s imports of frozen orange juice plunged from 30.84 million litres in 2020 to 17.70 million litres in 2022.
