Orange juice is traded in the form of frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) to reduce the volume used.
Quick Overview of Orange Juice
✔️An overview of orange juice
✔️The production of orange juice
✔️Trading orange juice as an agricultural commodity
What are the drivers of the price of orange juice?
The uses of orange juice
Did you know?
An overview of orange juice
As a commodity
FCOJ is an agricultural commodity, a category of commodities that is categorised into six categories, namely dairy products, cereal grains, meat, miscellaneous agricultural commodities, oilseeds, and soft commodities. FCOJ is part of the soft commodities category, together with cocoa, coffee, tea (black and green),
Agricultural commodities are commodities that are obtained from the growing and harvesting of crops and/or the raising of livestock.
As a product
FCOJ is the product obtained when juice from oranges has been extracted and the pulp removed. In frozen concentrated orange juice, ‘concentrated’ implies that the excess water from the oranges is extracted, providing a product seven times more concentrated than the initial juice. (Oranges contain about 86 percent water.)
FCOJ allows more efficient packaging and transportation. It is diluted with water after purchase.
Besides FCOJ, orange juice is produced as ‘Ready to Drink’ (RTD) juices, namely:
- As a reconstituted liquid, meaning it has been concentrated and then diluted before it is sold.
- As a single-strength, unconcentrated drink referred to as ‘Not from Concentrate’ (NFC).
Historians are not sure about the exact origins of oranges. One view, presented by encyclopedia.com, is that oranges have been cultivated for the last 4 000 years in southern China and Southeast Asia. One variety, the citron, was taken to the Middle East sometime between 600 and 400 BCE.
During the Arab occupation of Spain, citrus fruits, including oranges, first arrived in southern Europe.
In the sixteenth century, explorers introduced citrus fruits to the state of Florida in the USA and Brazil.
‘By the 1800s, citrus fruits achieved worldwide distribution, according to encyclopedia.com.’
In the 1940s, Cedric Donald Atkins, together with Edwin Moore and Louis MacDowell, invented a process in which the flavour of orange juice could be retained by adding a bit of fresh orange juice to the concentrated orange juice and then freezing it. The process is called the add-back process.
The add-back process, together with the expansion of home refrigeration, has made orange juice available to millions of consumers all over the world.
The production of orange juice
Largest orange juice (OJ) producers in the world
According to Statista, the largest global producers of orange juice in the 2025/2021-marketing year were as follows:
- Brazil: 1.048 million metric tonnes (MT)
- USA: 245 000 MT
- Mexico: 200 000 MT
- European Union (EU): 89 000 MT
- South Africa: 50 000 MT
- China: 31 000 MT
- Australia: 17 000 MT
Brazil is by far the major global producer of orange juice. The country produced 62.4 percent of the total orange juice produced by the top seven producers in the given period.
Spain, followed by Italy, are the two top producers of orange juice in the European Union (EU), comprising 27 member states.
Processing FCOJ
Orange trees, cultivated in sub-tropical and tropical climates, prefer hot summers and mild winters.
Basically, oranges are categorised into two broad categories: bitter oranges and sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis), which are used to produce orange juice.
Sweet oranges can be classified into four different classes:
- Common orange is widely grown and comprises numerous varieties such as the Hamlin, Hart’s Tardiff Valencia, and the Valencia, which is the most popular variety used to produce orange juice.
- The navel orange is the most common grocery orange, available in varieties like Cara cara, Bahia, and Dream navel, to name a few.
- Blood or pigmented orange includes two types: light blood orange and deep blood orange. The colour of this orange is a deep red hue. Varieties include, inter alia, Maltese and Scarlet Navel.
- Acid-less orange contains very little acid, thus little flavour. These oranges are also known as ‘sweet oranges,’ and are not grown in large quantities. Also, due to their low acid content, they are prone to spoilage, and thus considered unfit for the production of orange juice.
Oranges must ripen on trees before they can be harvested. Furthermore, oranges intended for juice production must meet certain requirements. For instance, the number of acids and sugars.
Oranges are mostly harvested manually. Mechanical orange harvesters, shaking the fruit off the trees, are also used in certain countries and regions. Although, this method is not always successful.
After they are harvested, oranges are transported in holders to fruit processing plants.
Basically, the processing of FCOJ includes the following steps:
- Inspect the oranges to ensure quality.
- Clean and wash the fruit.
- Recover orange oil from the peels of the fruits.
- Extract juice from the oranges.
- Filter the juice to get rid of seeds and large pieces of pulp.
- Pasteurise the orange juice, making the natural enzymes inactive, preventing them to constrain the quality of the product.
- Concentrate the juice in a high vacuum evaporator to remove the water and concentrate the juice sugars and solids.
- Vitamin C, oils, and essences extracted during the concentration process are added back to enhance the flavour and restore nutrition. This is done by blending the concentrate with fresh orange juice, a process referred to as the add-back process.
- Finally, the concentrate is frozen and stored at about minus 12 degrees Celsius, ready for the market.
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Trading orange juice as an agricultural commodity
Financial instruments, also known as trading instruments, are offered by trusted and regulated commodity brokers. Examples of these instruments are:
- Contracts for difference (CFDs) allow traders to speculate on the price of FCOJ. The value of a CFD is the difference between the price of FCOJ when it is purchased and the current price of FCOJ.
- An options contract on FCOJ is available on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Similar to futures contracts, options have an expiry date.
- Orange Juice futures contracts
The ICE offers a futures contract on FCOJ that settles into 15 000 pounds of orange juice solids (3% or less).
The price is quoted in US dollars and cents. The expiry dates of the contracts are March, May, July, September, and November.
The preferred broker will also explain the pros, cons, and risks involved when trading with the financial instruments mentioned above.
Furthermore, the regulated and trusted commodity broker will also provide the necessary services, guidance, and trading platform and will help a novice trader/investor to determine his or her risk appetite.
What are the drivers of the price of orange juice?
Similar to other agricultural commodities, there are various factors that determine the demand for and supply of FCOJ, consequently influencing its price as an agricultural commodity.
FCOJ remains the benchmark commodity for measuring the price of orange juice.
According to Trading Economics on September 8, 2025, ‘Orange Juice increased 31.25 USD/Lbs or 21.36% since the beginning of 2025, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity.’
The following list indicates some of the factors that contribute to the fluctuation of the FCOJ price:
- Impact of the weather on orange farming.
- The volatile consumer demand for orange juice.
- Decline in consumer demand, due to, inter alia, health concerns about the high sugar content of orange juice and the declining importance of breakfast.
- Threats from diseases that kill orange trees.
The uses of orange juice
Regarding it uses, orange juice differs from most other agricultural commodities in that its uses are limited.
Orange juice is primarily a staple beverage on breakfast tables in various countries in the world. Also, some people use it to make salad dressings, smoothies, marinades, citrus glaze, fruit toppings, and ice cubes, to name a few additional uses.
It is a very rich source of vitamin C. One medium glass (200 millilitre) of orange juice contains about 90 milligrams (mg) of vitamin C. Besides vitamin C, orange juice also includes potassium, folate, thiamin, and hesperidin, which is an antioxidant.
Statista estimates that the average volume of orange juice consumed per person will amount to 1.07 litres in 2025.
According to an estimation by the United States Department of Agriculture, the orange juice domesticated use by the country in 2025 was as follows:
- European Union (EU) (27 countries): 552 250 metric tonnes (MT)
- USA: 540 000 MT
- United Kingdom: 168 000 MT
- China: 117 000 MT
- Canada: 79 875 MT
- Brazil: 75 000 MT
- Japan: 48 500 MT
Did you know?
- There are over 600 varieties of oranges.
- Oranges are the largest citrus fruit in the world.
- Oranges are non-climacteric, meaning they will not ripen after they are picked.
- According to the Water Footprint Network, it requires about 59.1 litres (13 gallons) of water to grow one orange, and approximately 204.6 litres (45 gallons) of water to produce one glass of orange juice.
- The colour of a ripe orange can be orange or green, depending on the amount of sunshine it has been exposed to and the type of climate in which it is grown. Oranges grown in a sub-tropical climate turn orange, caused of carotenoids (pigments) in the skin of the orange. Oranges cultivated in a tropical climate stay green because their pigment is obtained from chlorophyll. Oranges coloured green or orange taste the same. However, many consumers view a green orange as not ripe. Hence, to change the colour of green oranges to bright orange, the green oranges might be exposed to ethylene gas and coated in wax.
- When water is added to freshly thawed concentrated orange juice, it is said to be reconstituted.
- Drinking the juice of oranges or other citrus fruits can help to prevent scurvy, a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C.
Note: This article does not constitute investment, financial, or trading advice. Please obtain the advice of a professional and regulated commodity broker before making trading and investment decisions.
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