Breakfast staple hit by 20% price rise in a year – and costs are set to surge even further

ORANGE juice lovers must think shop bosses are taking the pith — with in-store prices rocketing by more than a fifth in a year.

And costs are set to increase even further as crop diseases and climate change continue to clobber harvests, experts say.

Heatwaves have hampered growers in Spain, while in Brazil — the world’s largest producer of the tangy fruit — millions of trees have been blighted by an incurable bacterial infection called citrus greening disease.

Two hurricanes and a cold winter have hit Florida’s harvests.

As a result, the wholesale orange juice price is now £5,179 a ton — more than double last year’s £2,300.

This has led to higher supermarket prices — with the average for own-brand juice up 21 per cent to £1.34 a litre, says The Grocer magazine.

 It has been suggested that demand from buyers could outstrip supply as early as next month — which experts say will keep prices high.

That is bad news for millions of Britons because orange is the favourite juice of 59 per cent of the UK market, according to The British Soft Drinks Association.

British company Coldpress, which launched in 2011, said it had switched from using oranges to mandarins to combat the soaring price.

A spokesman said: “It’s worth noting that mandarins are a fantastic, low-calorie fruit jam-packed with beneficial vitamins and minerals.”

The brand is able to sell mandarin juice at the same price as its apple drink, which is 15 per cent cheaper than orange juice.