Florida Orange juice is more valuable than ever, with prices skyrocketing due to low production and high demand. If you thought paying $5 for a latte was expensive, wait until you see the price of a gallon of OJ.
While orange juice has always been a staple of breakfast tables across the US, it's now become a luxury item. One TikTok user was outraged to see the price of his favorite Simply Orange juice had risen to $7. For that price, you'd expect the orange juice to be freshly squeezed by the finest Italian baristas.
So, why the sudden increase in price? According to the Guardian, the answer lies here in Florida. Our state produces the most orange juice in the country. Unfortunately, Florida has been experiencing a drop in production due to a combination of extreme weather events and a citrus disease that's been plaguing its groves for over a decade.
Florida Orange Juice:
Hurricane Ian caused havoc on the state's citrus farms, causing an estimated $247 million in damages. On top of that, the citrus industry has been dealing with a pandemic of citrus greening, a disease spread by an insect that infects the trees with bacteria. This has led to a 61% drop in production compared to last season. That's a lot of oranges that won't be turned into juice.
With low production in Florida, other countries like Brazil have stepped in to fill the gap, leading to an increase in orange juice shipments. But at what cost? Floridian orange growers are still optimistic, however, and are investing in research and development to fight the disease and replant old and infected trees.
Despite the challenges, the orange growers are a resilient bunch. They keep pushing forward, determined to keep the industry alive. They say that the efforts to fight the disease are starting to bear fruit, literally. In the meantime, we'll just have to suck it up and pay the price for a glass of orange juice. Who knows, it might become a luxury item that only the rich and famous can afford.
If you want to invest in a commodity that's on the rise, forget about gold or Bitcoin, and buy orange juice futures. You never know, it might be worth more than gold soon. So, if you see a glass of orange juice that costs more than a cup of coffee, don't be surprised. It's the latest luxury item on the market.
Inflation Is Worse In Florida Cities Than Most Others In The US
In 2022, Americans, especially those of us in Florida are dealing with sky-high inflation. The gauge hit a 40-year high earlier this year. Though inflation has started to slow slightly due to factors like the Federal Reserve rate hikes, the year-over-year inflation rate was still a whopping 7.7% in October. This high inflation is driven by a variety of factors. This includes the continued effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the war in Ukraine and even labor shortages. The government is hoping to continue to rein in inflation with additional aggressive interest rate hikes this year. Exactly how much of an effect that will have remains to be seen.
Inflation is rising more quickly in some places than others, though. In order to determine the cities where inflation is rising the most – and thus is the biggest problem – WalletHub compared 22 major MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) across two key metrics related to the Consumer Price Index. The CPI measures inflation. We compared the Consumer Price Index for the latest month for which BLS data is available to two months prior and one year prior. This will give us a snapshot of how inflation has changed in the short and long term. We'll also show how inflation in Florida cities stack up against other parts of the U.S.
Main Findings
Cities Where Inflation is Rising The Most
| Overall Rank | MSA | Total Score | Consumer Price Index Change (Latest month vs 2 months before) |
Consumer Price Index Change (Latest month vs 1 year ago) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 100.00 | 1.40% | 12.10% |
| 2 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 79.24 | 0.90% | 10.10% |
| 3 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | 77.62 | 1.10% | 8.50% |
| 4 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 76.78 | 1.00% | 8.90% |
| 5 | Anchorage, AK | 73.91 | 1.10% | 7.60% |
| 6 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 73.49 | 1.10% | 7.50% |
| 7 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 71.72 | 0.50% | 10.70% |
| 8 | San Diego-Carlsbad, CA | 71.38 | 0.90% | 8.20% |
| 9 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 70.97 | 0.90% | 8.10% |
| 10 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 67.21 | 0.70% | 8.40% |
| 11 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 65.89 | 0.30% | 10.50% |
| 12 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 65.52 | 0.50% | 9.20% |
| 13 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | 64.79 | 1.00% | 6.00% |
| 14 | Urban Honolulu, HI | 62.27 | 0.80% | 6.60% |
| 15 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 62.23 | 0.60% | 7.80% |
| 16 | Minneapolis-St.Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 55.58 | 0.40% | 7.40% |
| 17 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 49.71 | 0.00% | 8.40% |
| 18 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 47.29 | 0.30% | 6.00% |
| 19 | St. Louis, MO-IL | 46.43 | 0.10% | 7.00% |
| 20 | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | 41.82 | -0.20% | 7.70% |
| 21 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 36.86 | -0.20% | 6.50% |
| 22 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 31.41 | -0.60% | 7.60% |
Consumer Price Index Change (Latest month vs 2 months before)
- 1. Phoenix, AZ
- T-2. Los Angeles, CA
- T-2. Detroit, MI
- T-2. Anchorage, AK
- T-5. San Francisco, CA
- T-5. Seattle, WA
- 18. St. Louis, MO
- 19. Riverside, CA
- T-20. Denver, CO
- T-20. Washington, DC
- 22. Houston, TX
Consumer Price Index Change (Latest month vs 1 year ago)
- 1. Phoenix, AZ
- 2. Atlanta, GA
- 3. Tampa, FL
- 4. Miami, FL
- 5. Dallas, TX
- 18. St. Louis, MO
- 19. Honolulu, HI
- 20. Washington, DC
- T-21. New York, NY
- T-21. San Francisco, CA
Methodology
In order to determine the cities where inflation is rising the most, WalletHub compared 22 MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) across two key metrics involving the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation. The metrics are listed below, along with their corresponding weights. We then determined each MSA’s weighted average across the metrics and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.
For each MSA in the sample, we used the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For some MSAs, there is a one-month lag on the data available.
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
