In this installment of the ‘Agronometrics In Charts’ series, Colin Fain illustrates how the U.S. market is evolving. Each week the series looks at a different horticultural commodity, focusing on a specific origin or topic visualizing the market factors that are driving change.

Over the last 20 years, orange prices have seen a consistent trend upwards indicative of a healthy industry with opportunities to grow as demand outpaces supply.

Topping this off, on week 40, the average price per kilo of oranges reached $1.63 per kilo, the highest point we have on record going as far back as 2000.

Orange prices (USD/Kilo) 2000 to present

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Through the normal periodic ups and downs, the prices see throughout the year, the market has seen a relatively steady increase since April, with Chile taking the lead in the last couple of weeks, selling their fruit on the spot market at $1.86 per kilo. This is a full $0.35 higher than California, the only other origin reporting prices this week. 

Orange prices by origin (USD/Kilo)

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

The causes for these high prices and the premiums Chile is seeing could be various, however, the market data suggests that the laws of supply and demand may be playing their part.

Chile’s exports to the U.S. have also been 19.3% lower than in previous years. With no shipments registered from South Africa since week 39, this could mean that Chile's prices, reported out of Philadelphia, are seeing an East Coast market that is hungry for oranges, while the West Coast, which is also seeing historically high pricing, is doing a better job of satisfying demand with imports as well as local production.

Orange imports from Chile

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

In our ‘In Charts’ series, we work to tell some of the stories that are moving the industry. Feel free to take a look at the other articles by clicking here.

You can keep track of the markets daily through Agronometrics, a data visualization tool built to help the industry make sense of the huge amounts of data that professionals need to access to make informed decisions. If you found the information and the charts from this article useful, feel free to visit us at www.agronometrics.com where you can easily access these same graphs, or explore the other 20 fruits we currently track.