NEW YORK: Orange juice futures fell on Monday, finishing near a 6-month low on renewed speculative selling on the first trading day of the second quarter, and dealers said the absence of leads should keep the market on the defensive.
The key May frozen concentrated orange juice contract fell 2.25 cents or by 1.3 percent to end at $1.6225 per lb, moving from $1.6135 to $1.646. It was the lowest close for the spot contract since early October, Thomson Reuters data showed.
The day's declines added to those seen in March, when Thomson Reuters data showed the benchmark juice contract down by
11.44 percent.
"There is no reason to buy juice at this time so the specs are taking the easy way out and dumping it," a dealer said.
Traded volume on Monday of around 1,400 lots was around 50 percent below the 30-day norm, ICE Futures US data showed.
The market had rallied to record highs in January due to fears of a supply shortage after a prohibited fungicide turned up in US imports of Brazilian juice.
The US Food and Drug Administration ran tests and excluded some shipments, but fears of a supply crunch have eased because there are enough US supplies for the domestic market. Retail demand has also been weak, analysts said.
Analysts are content for now to monitor weather conditions in the top US citrus growing state of Florida.
The market is seen sagging to areas near $1.60 and then $1.50, basis the spot month, over the coming weeks.
The storm premium buying that is usually seen with the approach of the annual hurricane season is still a few weeks away. Hurricane season begins on June 1 and ends on Nov. 30.
The market took note of news that deadly citrus greening disease has been found in California, the second biggest citrus producer in the country. Market reaction though was notably subdued, dealers said.
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