In the event of an economic war with the United States, could we deprive ourselves of Florida oranges?

In this possible economic war between Canada and the United States, Florida oranges could be among those American products that the Canadian government decides to overtax, but do we have an alternative solution to obtain this fruit? emblematic of lunch?

• Also read: Ottawa wants to tax Florida orange juice

According to agri-food expert and co-founder of the ilot firm, Guillaume Mathieu, it would be possible for processing companies that make orange juice in Quebec to obtain the fruit elsewhere than in the United States, but this does not That doesn’t mean the price will certainly rise.

“Florida is a major producer of oranges, but the main producer of oranges in the world remains Brazil. So, we could import more oranges from other markets,” he said, Thursday evening, in an interview on the show The Balance Sheet.

And other solutions are also available for juice producers.

Mr. Mathieu also specifies that the latter have already started maneuvers since the price of orange juice has increased by almost 40% since 2023.

“We are also seeing more and more products on the shelves that are no longer just made from a single fruit like orange, but cocktails of multiple fruits,” he explains. “So, these are breakfast cocktails, for example, in which you can integrate apple or fruit which are less expensive.”

According to a study conducted by the Léger survey firm, more than one in five Quebecers have already reduced their consumption of orange juice.

“There are even 10% of Quebecers who have just completely stopped buying orange juice over the past year, because the price has exploded so much,” adds the specialist.

Watch the full interview with Guillaume Mathieu in the video above.