The future’s far from bright for oranges!

Future’s for US orange juice soared by more than 10 per cent to an all-time high over fears of an unapproved fungicide in Brazil could hit juice imports. The benchmark March frozen concentrated orange juice contract on the ICE Futures US exchange jumped the 20 cents daily limit to $2.0775 in morning trading, taking two-day gains to nearly 17 percent.

It came after reports that the discovery of small doses of an unapproved fungicide in Brazil could crimp juice imports from the emerging economy and followed a rally sparked brief freeze last week in Florida.

The latest surge appeared related to reports that the Food and Drug Administration had told juice makers that it would step up testing for the fungicide carbenazim used in Brazil but against the law in the US.