Word to the mother

摘要

Mother nature turns industry attention away from industry politics this year by sending a series of hurricanes through Florida's citrus groves. IN 2003 the orange juice market was eavily occupied with industry politics and this continued into 2004. However, the most influencing factor of last year did not come from trade wars, barriers or tariffs but from Mother Nature, reminding the industry that she was still the boss. Florida growers harvested their largest orange crop in history last year, ballooning the already weighty supply of orange juice. Production was well above domestic consumption levels and as a result the US targeted export regions such as Europe and Asia, Brazil's traditional markets. The glut of juice was so large in the US at thestart of last year that the US Department of Agriculture agreed to purchase US$50 million worth of canned and frozen orange juice from the US market.