COMMODITY PRICE INDEX

COMMODITY PRICE INDEX Output of orange juice in Brazil, the world's biggest producer, is expected to fall by 18% this season after drought delayed the orange harvest and shrivelled the fruit. Smaller oranges take more time to process and their juice may be high in acidity, making blending necessary. In July, the start of the new season, output of orange juice was down 60% compared with last year. Exports were 40% lower. In general, Brazilian firms can afford to crush fewer oranges: a rise of one-third in the past two years has pushed the country's stocks of frozen concentrated orange juice to over 300,000 tonnes, about half the world's total. Florida, the American state that grows oranges for juice, expects another bumper crop. The price of frozen concentrated orange juice in New York, already near three-year lows of 72 cents a pound, could weaken further.