ORLANDO, Fla. (AFX) - The Coca-Cola Co. said Monday it has raised prices 9 percent to 11 percent for its Minute Maid and Simply Orange juice products, citing a projected Florida orange shortfall and increased fuel and energy costs.
It was the Atlanta-based company's fourth orange juice price increase this year, after remaining static for the past five years. The last raise was a jump of 3 percent to 6 percent in September.
This month the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted 135 million boxes of oranges will be picked in the 2006-07 season, down from an already-low 148 million boxes last year. Florida, which is the second-largest juice producer behind Brazil, was averaging about 220 million boxes before two active hurricane seasons hit.
For a variety of reasons, Florida has fewer acres of trees than it has at any time since 1988, when several years of freezes hit. If the forecast comes true, it would be Florida's worst harvest in a decade and a half.
'The crop report, with accompanying increased futures and fruit prices, has driven the need for additional price increases,' Minute Maid general manager Mike Saint John said in a news release.
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