US consumers aren't swallowing a 25% jump in the price of orange juice, cutting back 16% on the popular drink in the past month. Retailers sold 45.23 million gallons of orange juice during the four-week period, down from 53.6 million gallons in the same span a year earlier, according to AC Nielsen data in a Florida Department of Citrus report.

The average price nationwide of a gallon rose to $6 from $4.79, boosting retail revenues 5.8% to $271.6 million, the department said. Sales have dropped 12% to 468.05 million gallons in the season that started in October as prices rose 22% across the country, according to the report.

Smaller crops after two years of hurricanes prompted price increases by Coca-Cola, which raised prices for its Simply Orange and Minute Maid juice four times last year. Tropicana, a unit of PepsiCo, announced last November that it would raise prices for the second time in two months.

Source: Bloomberg News