NEW YORK: Orange juice futures fell 1 percent on Wednesday, ending at a six-month low as selling by speculators more than offset trade buying amid plentiful supplies, analysts said.
The key May contract for frozen concentrated orange juice dropped 1.85 cents to end at $1.6065 per lb, the lowest level for the spot contract since early October, Reuters data showed.
Traded volume on Wednesday of around 3,000 lots nearly doubled its 30-day norm, ICE Futures US data showed.
"The trade is a buyer with the specs selling, but the trade isn't chasing it to take it higher," said one Florida-based softs commodities trader.
"The supply situation would be even more bearish if not for the recent fungicide problem from Brazil," the trader said.
The market had rallied in January 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 crunch have eased because there are enough US supplies for the domestic market. Retail demand has also been weak, analysts said.
Since peaking over $2 a lb in January, the market has lost almost 20 percent in value.
The storm premium buying 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 continued to monitor conditions in California, where agriculture officials are scrambling to head off the spread of the citrus greening bacteria that is fatal to citrus trees.
California is the second-biggest citrus producer in the country, after Florida. Market reaction to the news has been lackluster so far, dealers said.