NY juice settles near 10-month low on investor sales

NEW YORK: Orange juice futures ended near a 10-month low Monday on investor sales as the absence of a storm threat to the key citrus state of Florida kept the market on the defensive, analysts said.

Country Hedging Inc senior analyst Sterling Smith said juice futures were hit by selling from investors who see no storm posing a threat to Florida, the top citrus growing state in the country.

With the annual hurricane season winding down in two months' time, the chance of a storm slamming into the Sunshine State is receding by the day.

The key November frozen concentrated orange juice futures fell 4.85 cents or 3.1 percent to finish at $1.504 per lb, the lowest close for the spot continuation contract since Nov. 30, 2010.

The November contract moved between $1.485549 and $1.5925.

Total volume was nearly 3,400 lots, almost double the 0-day norm, preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed.

The annual Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1 and ends on Nov. 30. Most of the storms that would hit Florida usually crop up through the middle of October, market sources said.

"It really can't hold itself up if we have no storm bearing down on Florida," a trader said.

Traders are now looking toward release of the monthly supply/demand report from the US Agriculture Department on Oct. 12. That report will contain the first government estimate of Florida's 2011/12 citrus crop.

Private forecasts released in August pegged the crop at 140 to 146 million (90-lb) boxes. Some field data out of Florida show citrus fruit are larger-than usual, implying the USDA report could exceed the private forecast estimates.

The level of investor interest remained near a three-year low as open interest stood at 23,504 lots as of Sept. 23, ICE Futures US data said.

Volume traded on Friday hit 2,342 lots, against the previous tally of 3,400 lots which was the highest amount traded since Aug. 12, exchange data showed.

Copyright Reuters, 2011