NEW YORK: Orange juice futures extended gains into the fifth straight day on Monday, supported by ongoing concerns about juice imports from the world's top producer.
Though gains were pared as investors cashed in on the more than 10 percent rise in February as the threat of frost in Florida's groves diminished, analysts said.
"Given the current price levels and where we are in the calendar there's not a lot of frost risk in this market," said Sterling Smith, an analyst for Country Hedging Inc in St. Paul, Minnesota.
"That led to some profit taking on the rally."
Key May frozen concentrated orange juice firmed 1.75 cents to settle at $1.9210 per lb, after moving from $1.9050 to $1.9695.
Traders also awaited a USDA Florida citrus output report due on Friday.
The juice market has been supported by uncertainty over tests by the US Food and Drug Administration given to Brazilian juice imports due to the use of a prohibited fungicide by Brazilian citrus growers.
Volume on Monday reached just over 1,250 lots, more than half the market's 30-day average, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.
Open interest in the market, an indicator of investor exposure, edged up to 22,393 lots as of March 2, from the prior day's count at 22,085 lots, ICE Futures US data showed.
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