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The frozen orange juice market is getting squeezed

A change in consumer tastes and a crop disease have taken their toll on this American breakfast classic.

The frozen orange juice market is getting squeezed
Jon Sullivan/Flickr

Orange juice is an American breakfast staple but in recent years the market for frozen orange juice has taken a nose dive. We talked with Julie Wernau of the Wall Street Journal about her recent article exploring the reasons behind the once thriving commodities’ decline. The commodity was so ubiquitous  at one point that it even appeared in the 1983 film “Trading Places” where Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy ruined the Duke brothers by out smarting them trading frozen orange juice futures.

In real life, a change in consumer tastes, namely the rise of fresh juice that began taking hold in the 1980s, and disease in Florida’s orange groves are the major drivers of its disappearance from futures markets.

Click the audio player above to listen to the interview. 

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