NEW YORK: Orange juice futures ended higher Wednesday on light speculative short-covering as the market was given a boost by firm outside markets and winter premium buying, analysts said.
The benchmark January FCOJ contract rose 1.30 cents to finish at $1.716 per lb, trading from $1.696 to $1.7325.
Total volume was over 550 lots, more than three-quarters below the 30-day norm, preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed.
"It's steadier in line with other commodities," said Country Hedging Inc analyst Sterling Smith.
Investors were also engaged in winter premium buying to protect their positions in case a hard freeze hits Florida during the Northern Hemisphere winter.
In the last two seasons, a hard freeze hit citrus farms in the Sunshine State, causing significant damage to the $9.1 billion citrus industry.
"We're getting closer and closer to the frost season in Florida," Smith said.
Worries over storms hitting Florida have declined with the end of the annual hurricane season approaching at the close of November.
Analysts said Florida appears poised to see little if any damage to its citrus farms during the annual Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1.
Open interest stood at 26,800 lots as of Nov. 1, versus the 26,737 lots as of Oct. 31, ICE Futures US data said.
Volume traded on Tuesday hit 1,271 lots from the prior session's 1,840 lots, exchange data showed.
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