Latest news with #SimplyOrange
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Shrinkflation may be returning for 2025
(WHTM) — After months of rising costs, you may notice some grocery store prices holding steady. But, we may still be paying more. Remember shrinkflation, that trending term a few years ago when it seemed every grocery product was getting smaller? Well, for 2025, it's back. Just when it seemed manufacturers had taken a breather from shrinking their products, it seems they have found some new ways to give us less. The site Consumer World shared photos of the latest items to downsize, including Simply Orange, which it claims recently shrunk from 52 to 46 ounces. Others include: Crystal Light: from six packets to four; Bounty Paper Towels: Consumer World says their triple rolls have shrunk from 135 sheets to 123; Ruffles Potato Chips: Consumer World says they were nine ounces but are now eight and a half, though the site says the amount of air inside the bag looks to be the same. And, from the 'Doesn't That Stink' file, the fact that manufacturers continue to find new ways to shrink products that have already been downsized, according to Consumer World's Ed Dworsky. 'There's almost no product category, except eggs maybe, that hasn't been downsized over the past few years,' Dworsky said. Despite the run up in egg prices the past year, he points out that you still get a dozen in a carton, but shrinking to ten eggs is always a possibility. Download the abc27 News+ app on your Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Apple TV devices The good news is that we have been seeing less shrinkflation this year, possibly because so many items are already so small. Find more stories on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Gulf Today
10-02-2025
- Business
- Gulf Today
Florida orange juice could be tariffs' casualty
President Donald Trump's trade war with Canada is on hold for now but, if it resumes, it could deliver a fatal blow to one iconic American industry: Florida orange juice. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Canadians to forgo 'Florida orange juice altogether' as he slapped a (now-paused) 25% tariff on American exports from 'red states.' It's a potent threat: 30% of all Florida fruit juice is exported to Canada. And the industry is in trouble already. Although oranges are the iconic symbol of the Sunshine State, pure Florida orange juice is almost extinct. For 30 years, the industry has been ravaged by disease and hurricanes, and citrus production has been on a steep decline. Orange juice is still being bottled in Florida under brand names like Tropicana, Simply Orange and Florida's Natural, but these products rely on imported juices sourced from Brazil and Mexico to mix with the Florida-grown stock. 'Citrus is synonymous with Florida,'' declared Matt Joyner, president of the Florida Citrus Mutual, a trade organization, at a meeting last week of the state Senate Agriculture Committee. Citrus processing plants, packing houses and nurseries supply more than 33,000 jobs in Florida and have an annual economic impact of over $6.8 billion, he said. That is all at risk if Trump resumes the reckless trade war with the US allies of Canada and Mexico. The impact of their retaliatory tariffs in Trump's home state of Florida alone would not only raise the cost of importing Mexican juice to Florida bottlers, it will likely send Canadian consumers to competitors. (The estimates of Florida's own Department of Citrus say that Brazilian orange juice is at least 35% cheaper.) That could be the kill shot the citrus industry fears. 'We are admittedly an industry in need of your help on many levels,' pleaded Shannon Shepp, director for the Florida Department of Citrus at that meeting with state senators. For three decades, Florida taxpayers and growers have funded millions of dollars in research to save the industry from deadly diseases of citrus greening and citrus canker. The state of Florida also heavily subsidises industry advertising to promote citrus products. Growers need the state's help to continue 'to maintain a market,' Shepp said, then promised: 'There will be a renaissance in this industry.' That sure sounds like wishful thinking against the backdrop of a potential trade war and Florida's now-annual ritual of hurricane destruction and recovery. After Hurricane Milton wiped out thousands of fruit trees last year, production estimates for Florida oranges fell by 20%. Citrus production for 2025 is now expected to be at century-low levels. A seismic shift in the market has already begun. Thousands of acres of farmland, which serve to buffer adjacent communities from floods and help aquifers recharge the state's shrinking water supply, are being sold for development. Florida-based Alico, one of the nation's largest citrus suppliers and a powerful industry stalwart for 120 years, announced last month that after this year's production it will discontinue citrus operations — 12% of all citrus production in Florida — and transform itself into a 'diversified land company.' 'For over a century, Alico has been proud to be one of Florida's leading citrus producers and a dedicated steward of its agricultural land, but we must now reluctantly adapt to changing environmental and economic realities,' wrote John Kiernan, the company's president and CEO, in a statement to shareholders. It's a surrender, of course. In the last 10 years, Alico's citrus production had declined by about 73%. Since 1998, Florida citrus production overall has declined 90%. The tariff equation is undoubtedly 'a really complex picture,' notes Zhengfei Guan, an economist at the University of Florida's Institute for Food and Agriculture Sciences. While Florida citrus could be harmed by retaliatory tariffs, other produce could get a boost. Florida-grown tomatoes might benefit from tariffs on Mexican tomatoes, for example, as could Midwest corn and soybeans. Trade wars always involve trade-offs. But it is hard to imagine a Florida without oranges — the ubiquitous wholesome symbol emblazoned on the state's license plates and the source of both the official state beverage (orange juice) and flower (the orange blossom). Trump offhandedly suggested that a trade war would mean Americans would feel 'some pain.' Of course, if you're a real-estate opportunist like Trump, the abandonment of citrus land equates to development potential. But it's a shortsighted and self-defeating approach to the future. Instead of a renaissance that makes America's favorite juice great again, Trump's tariffs will simply make America — and Canada — even more dependent on other orange juice producers.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's tariff threats against Canada squeezes Florida orange juice
I understand why Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau felt the need to sound defiant after President Donald Trump's made trade war overtures against his country. But Trudeau blundered by singling out Florida orange juice as part of Canada's battle plan response. Trump announced sweeping 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico last week. Then after the stock market reacted with a sharp decline, he backed off by announcing a one-month moratorium on his trade-war threats. In the interim, Trudeau reacted to Trump's tariff threats by urging Canadians to boycott some U.S. products. 'There are many ways for you to do your part,' Trudeau announced to his Canadian audience. 'It might mean checking the labels at the supermarket and picking Canadian-made products. 'It may mean opting for Canadian rye over Kentucky bourbon or forgoing Florida orange juice, altogether,' he said. Trudeau might have been better off taking his own advice about checking the labels at the supermarket. If so, he would have found out that so-called 'Florida orange juice' is a somewhat imaginary product. These days, if you buy Florida orange juice, it is likely to be diluted with a mixture of juices from Mexico and or Brazil. If a Canadian snowbird went to my Publix and made a point of boycotting 'Florida's Natural' brand orange juice, he or she may have missed a subtle change on the wording on the front of the carton. Florida's Natural orange juice used to say '100 percent premium Florida orange juice' in big red letters in the front of the carton. But a little over two years ago, Florida Natural cartons switched to saying it was made from '100 percent premium orange juice.' The word 'premium' was substituted for 'Florida' because the orange crops in Florida have been decimated. Mostly, this has been caused by lethal greening disease caused by the bacterial deposits of a tiny insect, the Asian citrus psyllid, that prevents the fruit from ripening and makes the oranges bitter and misshapen. Florida's citrus industry used to have an annual output of about $9 billion at the turn of the century. But due to the invasive insect, the pressure to sell farm land to real estate developers, and the destructive vagaries of the hurricane season, Florida citrus farming has suffered mightily. In the year 2000, Florida farms produced about 224 million boxes of oranges. The output last year was 15 million boxes. About 90 percent of the oranges that are grown in Florida are used to make orange juice but there aren't enough Florida oranges around anymore to make enough pure Florida orange juice. If you read the label on the back of a carton of Florida's Natural orange juice, it says it 'contains juice from Florida, Mexico and Brazil.' It's similar in other big brands. Tropicana orange juice, with its manufacturing plant in Bradenton, says its juice comes from the 'U.S. and Brazil.' Same thing goes for the brand Simply Orange. Publix Greenwise orange juice lists itself a 'product of Mexico.' And even Indian River Select, a brand named after one of Florida's biggest citrus counties, lists itself as a 'product of US/Mex/Brazil.' So, if we end up in a trade war, Canadians who follow Trudeau's advice to boycott Florida orange juice would be making a symbolic gesture of defiance. But like with tariffs themselves, it's action loaded with unintended consequences and collateral damage. For starters, you're taking action on a product that, for the most part, doesn't really exist. Making a statement about Florida orange juice means imposing artificial market forces on the Mexican farmers in Veracruz and Michoacan, where most of the Mexican orange crop comes from. A Florida orange juice boycott would also affect the market for oranges in Brazil, which produces about a third of the world's citrus and is the leading producer in the world. Citrus farmers in the Brazilian state of Sao Paolo have their own issues, without having to consider the boycotting of their product in Saskatoon. Due to droughts and extreme high temperatures attributed to climate change, as well as lethal greening, Brazil is experiencing the smallest orange crop it has had in the last 36 years. The orange juice business is already under siege without any tariff-related actions being launched. So, yes, it's tempting to call for boycotts against bullies. But this is a great example of how trying to put the squeeze on trading partners through the use of tariffs can lead to what might best be described as a circular firing squad. Frank Cerabino is a news columnist with The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Canada's Trudeau suggestion to boycott FL OJ is a blunder | Opinion
