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Are we nearing a tipping point for Orange Juice?
Tropicana owner warns of profit squeeze as orange prices soar and Companies are diversifying as crop diseases are causing orange juice prices to skyrocket.
Jan van Iperen
October 02, 2024
For Professionals in the Juice and Citrus industry
The last quarter of the year (oh dear, it’s going fast!) already!
It may become one of those quarters that defines a next era. There is shift abound, but still too early to say how intense it will be.
As usual, never a dull moment in this industry!
🧃 Juice News
The private equity-owned drinks giant behind Tropicana fruit juice has warned of a squeeze on profits because of a citrus blight that has destroyed crops and will lead to price rises for consumers.
Naked Juice, which owns the Tropicana brand, told lenders this month that it expects to make underlying profits of $322 million (£241 million) this year, compared to the $375 million it had previously forecast.
Researchers at the Federal University of Ceara in Brazil have developed two new probiotic beverages using passion fruit and apple juices, fermented with the same culture of bacteria and yeast (known as SCOBY) used to make traditional kombucha. Their findings, published in the journal ACS Agricultural Science & Technology, reveal that the apple-based drink not only matches kombucha in terms of beneficial compounds but also scores higher in taste tests.
Early harvest has begun on some Florida oranges. "We're picking our first harvest on our earlier crops but the main crop won't be ready until about mid-October. We have a few blocks that are early," says Doug Feek of Feek Family Citrus. The start of the Florida orange crop is happening at the same time as it did last year.
PepsiCo Inc., a global leader in the food and beverage industry, continues to navigate a complex market landscape as it strives to maintain growth and profitability. Recent analyst reports provide insights into the company's performance, challenges, and potential opportunities in the coming years.
A serial entrepreneur, Jeff co-founded cold-pressed juice pioneer Suja and led its development to a $100 million brand. Jeff also lost over $4 million of his own money in Rowdy Energy, a now defunct energy drink challenger he co-founded with NASCAR driver Kyle Busch.
🍊 Citrus News
In response to this supply shortage, many companies are diversifying their product mix and branching into beverages other than orange Juice. For example, Uncle Matt’s, a United States orange juice brand, is focusing more on expanding into the tea and wellness shot realm. Similarly, the UK-based company Colpress recently launched a mandarin juice that provides health benefits similar to orange juice. Additionally, many orange juice brands are managed by a larger beverage company that owns a diverse range of products, such as PepsiCo (Tropicana) and The Coca-Cola Company (Minute Maid, Simply Orange, and Dell Valle). These companies will most likely take a similar approach and focus their marketing efforts on the non-orange juice beverages they offer.
“It’s very viable for juice but it’s not very viable for the fresh market. That’s a concern. You can’t tell it from the outside. The only way you’re going to know that is to cut it open and see if it’s mushy on the inside.”
Mary Sutton’s appointment as the new University of Georgia (UGA) citrus Extension specialist should help growers implement varieties that have been tested and are suitable for Georgia growers. Part of her role will be to research alternatives to satsumas to see what is effective for Georgia’s soil and climate.
'Tizen Organic Lemon Soup 100' is a 100% Sicilian lemon juice product without added water, sugar, coloring, or flavoring, with about one lemon per packet. Sicilian organic lemons were juiced without heat treatment using the NFC (Not From Concentrate) method to preserve the original taste, aroma, and nutrients. Sicily, with its year-round warm Mediterranean climate and fertile volcanic soil, is considered one of the world's leading lemon producers. Sicilian lemons grown in a warm climate with sufficient sunlight are famous for their high sugar content and strong aroma.
Fortunately, most Egyptian orange varieties are among the most durable and solid in the world. Last season, we exported Valencia oranges to China after 60 days at sea; they arrived in excellent condition and sold well on retail shelves.
🔬 Research Worth Reading
Lemon and Orange Disease Classification using CNN-Extracted Features and Machine Learning Classifier
The model's base features were extracted from the ResNet50 pre-trained model and the diseases are classified by the Logistic Regression which beats the performance given by VGG16 and VGG19 for other classifiers. Experimental outcomes show that the proposed model also outperforms existing models in which most of them classified the diseases using the Softmax classifier without using any individual classifiers.
This study provides a quantitative insight into CRISPR/Cas9 vector design that has practical application in the simultaneous editing of multiple genes in Citrus, and potentially other eudicot plant species.
Blue LED light exposure of Valencia oranges for 10 days during postharvest improved vitamin c and phenol contents in the juice.
Blue LED light exposure also improved the total antioxidant capacity of the peel at 10 days and 20 days of exposure.
Increases of abscisic acid and bioactive jasmonates contents during postharvest in the peel were reduced by blue light exposure.
The application of LED technology in the market for the improvement of fruit quality during postharvest may become a reality soon.
These findings suggest that the model can aid decision support and smart agriculture solutions for farmers as they adapt their farm management practices for CUPS structures.
Nicole is essential for the regulation of fruit acidity in citrus
In a natural low-acid mutant of sweet orange, Nicole is interrupted by a retrotransposon
Nicole upregulates vacuolar proton pumps and several proanthocyanidin biosynthetic genes
Incomplete activation of the proanthocyanidin pathway may explain extreme acidity in citrus
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