Orange Juice, Corn Rise Following Crop Report

By The Associated Press

Orange juice futures had their biggest jump in more than a year Friday after the government reduced its estimate for the crop in Florida. Corn prices also rose.

The May orange juice contract jumped 8.6 cents to $1.3315 a pound, or 6.9 percent. It was the biggest one-day increase since January 2012.

The Agriculture Department cut its forecast for Florida's crop to 139 million boxes, down 1 percent from its February forecast.

May corn rose 12.25 cents to $7.035 a bushel, or 1.8 percent, after the agency forecast an extraordinarily low amount of excess corn at the end of the fiscal year in August.

The 20-day supply is one of the lowest estimates on record, said Jason Ward, an analyst with Northstar Commodity in Minneapolis.

In metals trading, most contracts rose except for copper.

April gold edged up $1.80 to $1,576.90 an ounce, May silver rose 14 cents to $28.9480 an ounce. Palladium for June delivery gained $23.70 to $782.75 an ounce. Platinum for April delivery rose $8.80 to $1,603.90 an ounce.

Copper for May delivery fell 1.15 cents to $3.5090.

Benchmark oil for April delivery rose 39 cents to $91.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline rose 8.02 cents to $3.2035 a gallon, heating oil fell 0.46 cents to $2.9749 a gallon and natural gas rose 4.7 cents to $3.6290 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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