Oranges & juice: Characteristics
Brix, acid and juice yield: how growers get paid
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | 67.2 Mt of oranges (2024); 1.35 Mt of orange juice at 65 Brix equivalent (2025/26) | Brazil grows 23.3% of oranges but makes 76% of the world's juice. The Sao Paulo belt harvested 292.9 million 40.8-kg boxes in 2025/26 and Fundecitrus forecasts 263.15 million for 2026/27. | FAOSTAT 2024; USDA PSD 2025/26; Fundecitrus, Sep 2026 |
| Inventory and stock levels | world juice ending stocks about 250 kt (2025/26), 21.4% of use or about 11 weeks | Fresh fruit keeps only weeks, so juice is the buffer. The US holds 141 kt of the total. Brazilian processors' inventories, published by CitrusBR, are the key price signal. India has no buffer stock. | USDA PSD 2025/26; CitrusBR |
| Capacity utilisation | not published | Processors do not publish plant utilisation. Brazilian plants ran on a smaller crop after greening and drought: about 10.96 Mt of fruit went to juice in 2025/26, and the forecast crop is 10% lower for 2026/27. | USDA PSD 2025/26; Fundecitrus, Sep 2026 |
| Geographic and producer concentration | Fruit: Brazil 23.3%, top-3 (Brazil, China, Mexico) 41.9%, HHI 898. Juice: Brazil 76.4% | Fresh fruit is unconcentrated, but juice is dominated by Brazil and by three processors there: Cutrale, Citrosuco and Louis Dreyfus. Their combined share is not published, though it is widely described as most of Brazil's exports. | FAOSTAT 2024; USDA PSD 2025/26 |
| Supply elasticity | low: new groves take several years to bear and crop for decades | Within a season supply can only shift between fresh and juice. Florida shows how disease removes capacity: US output fell from 11.79 Mt in 2000 to 2.50 Mt in 2024 after greening and hurricanes. | FAOSTAT 2000-2024 |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | no published capacity pipeline; replanting in Sao Paulo after greening | Brazilian growers are replanting with disease-free nursery trees in denser groves, and Fundecitrus surveys greening each year. Investment figures were not found. | Fundecitrus; content_v2 orange chain |
| Logistics and export flows | Brazil exports about 94% of its juice (973 kt of 1,032 kt, 2025/26); fresh exports led by Spain, Egypt and South Africa | Juice moves from Santos in dedicated bulk tankers (NFC chilled, FCOJ frozen) to terminals in Belgium, the Netherlands and the US. Fresh fruit moves in reefer containers and needs an unbroken cold chain. | CitrusBR via FreshPlaza; USDA PSD 2025/26; UN Comtrade 2024 |
Material characteristics Agricultural / soft commodity
Oranges are valued for juice content, sugar (Brix) and acidity. Processors pay on pounds of soluble solids, so Brix and juice yield drive grower income. For fresh fruit, size, colour, peel quality and freedom from blemish set grade. Concentrate is traded at a standard Brix, which makes it cheaper to ship and store.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brix (soluble solids) | FCOJ about 65 Brix; ICE FCOJ-A requires at least 62.5 Brix | Sets the amount of orange solids per tonne and the contract basis | ICE FCOJ-A rules; USDA PSD (indicative) |
| Brix-to-acid ratio | roughly 12:1 to 20:1 for Grade A juice | Determines sweetness and taste; out-of-range juice must be blended | USDA grade standards (indicative) |
| Juice yield | about 8-9.4% of fruit weight as 65 Brix concentrate (Brazil 2025/26, US) | Sets how many boxes are needed per tonne of juice | calculated from USDA PSD 2025/26 |
| Fruit size and grade | graded by diameter and EU/UNECE class (Extra, I, II) | Fresh importers pay by size and class | UNECE FFV-14 standard for citrus (indicative) |
| Peel oil | recovered as cold-pressed oil and d-limonene | A valuable by-product that improves processor margins | content_v2 orange methods |