Commodities move from Oranges to Apples

Apple-juice futures could be the next main squeeze for commodities traders.

The Minneapolis Grain Exchange Inc. is gearing up to list a futures contract for apple-juice concentrate, a molasses-like substance that is mixed with water to create the apple juice that lines most supermarket shelves.

Plans for this financial instrument are being finalized as prices across a range of commodities are hitting records and companies are clamoring for ways to hedge against volatility in their raw-materials costs.

PepsiCo Inc., which markets apple juice under its Tropicana and Ocean Spray brands, and global commodities merchant Louis Dreyfus Ltd., long an active orange-juice trader, have thrown their weight behind the move to introduce apple-juice-concentrate futures, giving the contract a better-than-average chance of gaining wide acceptance.

Americans have been substituting apple juice for O.J. in their refrigerators in recent years as prices for frozen orange juice—immortalized in the 1983 movie “Trading Places”—have risen due to a squeeze on supplies. Fewer juice oranges are being grown, especially in Florida, as acres that were once dedicated to orange groves have been turned into real-estate developments. In “Trading Places,” characters played by Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy hatch a plot to reap millions in the futures market for frozen concentrated orange juice.

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