NEW YORK: Orange juice futures finished lower Monday as the market was content to consolidate in a range while monitoring tests of juice imports using a prohibited fungicide.
The OJ market remained well supported near $1.75 a lb due to uncertainty about the next move of the US Food and Drug Administration on juice imports from top producer Brazil.
Benchmark May frozen concentrated orange juice fell 2.80 cents to end at $1.812 per lb after dealing from $1.80 to $1.8575.
The spot March contract declined 2.30 cents to finish at $1.8375.
Prices have lost around a fifth of their value since the then key March contract soared to an all-time high of $2.2695 on Jan. 23 as panic buying over a possible US ban spooked the juice market.
The FDA's decision will likely force Brazil, the world's top OJ producer, to find ways to export juice without using the fungicide, according to analysts.
Volume on Monday reached almost 2,100 lots, preliminary Reuters data showed.
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