ORLANDO, Fla. - High retail orange juice prices were expected to remain steady or even drop, despite a U.S. government prediction on Friday that Florida's orange crop would be down 2.5 percent this year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture expected the state to produce 166 million boxes of oranges, each of which weighs 90 pounds. The entire country was forecast to produce 211.7 million boxes, a 10 percent decrease from the previous year. Florida grows an overwhelming majority of the oranges pressed into juice in the United States, but California produces most of the fruit sold fresh. That state's production was expected to decrease 31 percent to 44 million boxes. Hurricanes, crop diseases and disappearing grove land have contributed to huge production drop-offs in the past few years for Florida growers. In turn, consumers have...
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