Is Florida running out of orange juice? Record prices put the squeeze on consumers

Has breakfast in the US ever been this expensive? The recent eggflation seen across the country has caused an uproar, and now orange juice is adding to the financial pain.

Orange juice futures – contracts to buy and sell OJ – have almost doubled to $2.60 per pound over the last year, up from $1.40 a year ago, leading to price surges in stores. In January, orange juice not from concentrate hit $10 a gallon, while juice from concentrate hit $6.27 per gallon.

The increase has not gone unnoticed. “This is my favorite,” a TikTok user in a grocery store says as he holds up a glistening 89-fluid-ounce orange juice bottle in a video posted last month. “Simply Orange juice: $7. That’s simply too high.”

The price increase highlights a serious problem for Florida – the state that is synonymous with the orange and produces the most orange juice in the country.

This season the US agriculture department predicts the state will produce 16m 90lb boxes of oranges, a 61% drop compared with last season when the state produced 41m boxes. It’s a worrying decrease but nothing compared…