Fresh Orange insights

As the U.S. midterm elections approach, the rising cost of living and inflation are becoming one of the most pressing issues for Latino voters. The latest poll by CNN shows that 70% of respondents disapprove of President Trump's handling of the economy, over 70% disapprove of his approach to inflation and oil prices; and 77% believe that the president's policies have led to rising prices. Outside a Latino supermarket in New York, 60-year-old Esmeralda Roustand, a Dominican family health assistant, said that she spent nearly $20 (about 25.6 Singapore dollars) on two bottles of orange juice and a chicken lunch with green onions. She said that food, rent, and transportation costs are continuously rising, and with the pressure of maintaining her life in the U.S. and regularly sending money to her family in the Dominican Republic, the burden is increasingly heavy. Roustand's situation is not unique. Although some U.S. economic indicators still show resilience, many Latino families are feeling the pressure in the form of lighter shopping bags, rising rents, and canceled outings and family activities. Michael Negrón, a senior researcher at the Center for American Progress and former White House economic advisor, pointed out that inflation has a greater impact on the Latino community because a higher proportion of these families' income is spent on basic expenses such as food, energy, and transportation. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that nearly 15% of the budget of Hispanic families is spent on food, and about 8% on energy, both higher than the national average. José Rosario, who has worked at a meat shop and grocery store in Manhattan for seven years, said that customer spending habits have changed noticeably. A hundred dollars could fill a shopping cart in the past, but now it only buys two small bags of items; a year ago, papayas cost 99 cents per pound, now they are $1.99, and some customers even ask for items to be cut and sold in smaller quantities. Negrón believes that economic dissatisfaction could become an important variable in the midterm elections. Many Latino voters who once supported Trump did so in the hope that he would lower the cost of living; however, policies such as tariffs, mass deportations, and the Iran war are believed to have exacerbated the family's concerns about rising prices. For ordinary consumers like Roustand, political debates are far less direct than the pressure of weekly shopping. She said, "I feel that the economy is getting worse every day, but you still have to keep buying things because people need to eat."

The São Paulo citrus industry ends the 2025/26 harvest in an environment of strong economic pressure, marked by a significant drop in orange prices, rising production costs, and the advance of greening in the orchards. The assessment is part of the Citrus Special 2026, published in the May edition of Hortifruti Brasil magazine, prepared by Cepea, linked to Esalq/USP. According to the survey, the recovery of the orange supply after the lowest harvest recorded in 37 years in the previous season caused a rapid change in the market, dropping fruit prices and significantly reducing the sector's profitability. After a period of strong appreciation driven by the historic break in the previous harvest, the citrus market has again faced negative pressure on prices. With greater availability of fruit in the 2025/26 harvest, concentrated orange juice stocks have started to grow again, reducing the immediate need for purchase by the industry. Researchers from the Cepea Citrus team highlight ...

The new estimate for the 2026/27 orange crop in the citrus belt of São Paulo and the Triângulo/Sudoeste Mineiro indicates a scenario of lower supply in the world's main producing hub. According to data from Fundecitrus, production is projected at 255.2 million boxes of 40.8 kg, a drop of 13% compared to the previous season. According to analyses by the Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics Cepea, from Esalq/USP, this decline tends to have a direct impact on the global orange juice market, especially on the balance between supply and international stocks. Cepea assesses that the reduction in Brazilian production may help to limit some of the pressure observed on global orange juice stocks throughout the 2025/26 crop. Brazil remains the world's leading exporter of the product, which makes the behavior of the national crop determinant for the formation of international prices. Despite this, researchers highlight that the impact on quotations should not be automatic or ...