June 5th 2024.
Attention all Australian consumers! Brace yourselves for potential price hikes in orange juice as the industry faces a major crisis on a global scale. The top supplier to Australia, Brazil, has been hit hard by a combination of severe drought and a devastating disease that is wreaking havoc on their harvests.
Richard Marr, representing the Mildura Fruit Company in New South Wales, shared with Ben Fordham on 2GB today that the beloved breakfast drink will likely see a significant increase in cost. In fact, prices have already risen by 20%, and there may be more changes in the near future. The reason for this is that Australia only produces about 1% of the world's oranges, and our juice producers heavily rely on imports from Brazil, Mexico, and the United States.
Unfortunately, these countries are also facing their own challenges when it comes to orange production. In Brazil, the citrus greening disease, carried by ants, is causing major issues by depriving fruit of vital nutrients. As Marr explained, this ultimately affects the quality and quantity of the fruit, and in some cases, even leads to the death of entire trees. The solution, though necessary, involves a lengthy process of uprooting diseased trees and replanting them.
Marr emphasized that this is not a problem that will simply disappear overnight. It requires time and effort to overcome. Furthermore, extreme weather events have also played a part in the shortage of oranges globally. Recent hurricanes in the US have caused damage to orange-producing regions in Florida, further contributing to the crisis at hand.
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