NEW YORK: Orange juice futures fell 1 percent on Thursday for a second straight daily loss, ending at a fresh six-month low as easing supply concerns triggered selling, analysts said.
The key May contract for frozen concentrated orange juice fell 1.95 cent to end at $1.587 per lb, the lowest level for the spot contract since early October, Reuters data showed.
Traded volume on Wednesday of around 3,500 lots more than doubled its 30-day norm, ICE Futures US data showed.
"We had a warm winter. And with a mild hurricane season coming, there is no news right now that might drive it higher," said one Florida-based softs commodities trader.
The US Climate Prediction Center raised the prospect that El Nino conditions could return after the Northern Hemisphere summer, causing adverse weather that could potentially disrupt the harvest of vital crops such as cotton, corn and soybeans.
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 citrus market continued to digest news Brazil cracked down on multinational commodities firms on Wednesday with rules to block them from shifting tax liabilities to more favorable countries.
"The market is extremely oversold, but it could see $1.50 if it does not rebound above $1.60," the Florida 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 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.