NEW YORK: Orange juice futures finished higher Wednesday on investor buying as the market gained for the second straight session although juice contracts were down on the month by over 10 percent, brokers said.

Key May frozen concentrated orange juice rose 1.80 cents to end at $1.8575 per lb after moving between $1.8325 and $1.885, nearly matching the previous session's range.

"It's firming up a little bit, but the process has been slow," a broker said.

Traders said the market has been pinned in a range running rougly from $1.80 to $1.90 band.

For the month, the market lost 11.5 percent in value as it rallied last month to record highs over fears Brazilian juice imports would be banned for using a prohibited fungicide.

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 of Brazilian juice imports hit the market.

The US Food and Drug Administration has been conducting tests on those juice imports from Brazil and other countries.

Volume on Wednesday reached over 1,800 lots, preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed.

Copyright Reuters, 2012

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