NEW YORK: Orange juice futures closed easier Friday on light investor sales as the market barely reacted to a government crop report and was content to consolidate, analysts said.
The US Agriculture Department's monthly supply/demand report estimated Florida's 2011/12 citrus production at 147 million (90-lb) boxes.
That compared to 146 million boxes in the agency's previous estimate last month. Two months ago, USDA pegged output at 147 million boxes.
Benchmark May frozen concentrated orange juice lost 0.95 cent to end at $1.888 per lb, dealing from $1.871 to $1.8975. For the fourth session in a row it was an inside day, with prices keeping in a familiar trading band.
Thursday's range was $1.8675 to $1.91, Wednesday's band was $1.863 to $1.9115 and the Tuesday range was $1.85 to $1.93.
Volume traded Friday was again light as it stood near 700 lots, over three-quarters under the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters data showed.
"We traded an inside day almost the entire week. There's almost nothing in there at this time in terms of news that we can trade off of," a dealer said.
The market continued to wait for any further news from the US Food and Drug Administration, which tested Brazilian juice imports due to the use of a prohibited fungicide by Brazilian citrus growers.
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