Orange-juice futures fell the most since July, dropping from a three-year high, as storm threats to Florida’s citrus groves subsided.
Tropical Storm Lisa, far out in the central Atlantic Ocean, was downgraded to a depression, as its top winds weakened to 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. Concerns also eased about an area of storms north of Venezuela.
“The one-two punch of the storms seems to be fading,” said Fain Shaffer, the president of Infinity Trading Corp., a commodities brokerage in Medford, Oregon.
Orange juice for November delivery fell 7.05 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $1.5525 a pound at 12:05 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, the first drop since Sept. 10. A close at that price would be biggest decline since July 8.
Yesterday, the commodity reached $1.657, the highest level for a most-active contract since May 2007. Futures had climbed for eight straight sessions, adding 12 percent, in the longest rally since late July.
“We had just quite a panic buy here in orange juice,” said James Cordier, a portfolio manager at OptionSellers.com in Tampa, Florida. “We’re overbought on the upside. It’s really due for a pullback.”
The hurricane center is also tracking a system of thunderstorms and squalls in the Caribbean it says has an 80 percent chance of turning into a tropical cyclone in the next two days. A military aircraft is scheduled to investigate the system later today.
Florida is the world’s largest orange producer after Brazil.