US: Florida orange-crop estimate may be reduced by frigid weather

The U.S. Department of Agriculture may lower its estimate of Florida’s orange crop for the second straight month, this time because of cold weather. The USDA on Jan. 12 may cut a “couple million boxes” from its projection, Ray Royce, the executive director of the Highlands County Citrus Growers Association, said today in a telephone interview. The group accounts for about 13 percent of Florida’s crop, the biggest in the world behind Brazil’s. Orange-juice futures surged more than 6 percent today to a three-year high of $1.7355 a pound on concern that Florida’s crop was hurt by the cold.