Maine, Get Ready For Another Shortage At The Grocery Store

One of the first things to happen when the pandemic rolled into the United States in March of 2020 was the sudden shortage of some common items.  Toilet paper, hand sanitizier, pasta, canned goods, etc.  People were panic buying.

For most of us, it was kind of shocking.  With the exception of the old, none of us had ever dealt with shortages.

Over the last few years, as we have dealt with the pandemic, an economic downturn, supply chain issues, etc occasional shortages have become a lot more common.  Even though they are more common, the shortages seem to be a lot less extreme.  The shortages tend to be on a random item here or a random item there.

It looks like we could soon be dealing with another shortage.  This shortage, on a common grocery store item, may affect how you enjoy breaking or how you enjoy vodka.

According to CNN, we can expect to see a drop in the number of oranges produced by the State of Florida.

Because of poor weather and disease, the state is only expected to grow about 20 million boxes of oranges during the 2022-2023 season.  That is about half of what the state produced in the previous season.

As a result of this shortage, consumers can expect the price of oranges, and products made with real oranges, to go up in the first part of 2023.  So, you may want to stock up on frozen OJ, or get the kids used to drinking Sunny Delight and Tang.

According to the executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus, Shannon Shepp:

The paltry crop is a result of the ongoing problem of citrus greening, a disease that has plagued Florida orange trees and squeezed supply for years, combined with a January freeze and the dual blows of Hurricanes Ian and Nicole

So, when will we start to see a price increase?  So far, "futures" prices have already gone up 42%.  We can expect to see those increase passed on to the customers sometime in the next three to six months.

Fortunately, it looks like help is on the way from Central America and South America.  The plan is to import oranges from places like Costa Rica and Brazil.