Brazil's National Association of Orange Juice Exporters (CitrusBR) has labeled an expected oversupply in 2012-13 as 'disturbing', with insufficient space to store the juice if the entire crop is processed.

CitrusBR president Christian Lohbauer said in the worst case scenario the equivalent of 83 million 40.8kg (90lbs) cartons would not be collected, which is just under a quarter of the orange crop, the AFP reported.

Brazil is the world's largest orange juice exporter with accumulated stocks of 560,000 metric tons (MT), and a capacity limit of 825,000MT.

"If we process all of the oranges of the next harvest, and estimated 364 million cartons, there isn't anywhere to store it all," he was quoted as saying.

The production figure is a 15% fall on last season's 428 million cartons. Lohbauer said the high stocks were due to the record harvest last year and a fall in exports, with a consumption decline seen over the last decade.

"Orange juice has been replaced by flavored waters, the 'gatorade' energy drinks, and juices made with various fruits.

"The surplus of oranges is becoming a chronic problem and we are going to see what we can do with the government to sell more oranges in Brazil. But in any case, this is only a palliative.

The industry also suffered setbacks this year after U.S. authorities blocked Brazilian orange juice shipments due to unacceptable levels of carbendazim.

Related story: Brazil expects orange production squeeze in 2012-13

www.freshfruitportal.com