Brown Sees $500 Million Cap-and-Trade Fees for California Budget - Bloomberg

California (STOCA1) Governor Jerry Brown plans to use half of the revenue from the nation’s first state- run cap-and-trade air-pollution program to help ease a $9.2 billion deficit in the most populous U.S. state. Brown estimates the state will take in about $1 billion in the year beginning July 1 under the landmark legislation, which allows industry to buy and sell carbon credits to reduce greenhouse gases. The 73-year-old Democrat wants to use about $500 million on environmental programs now financed through the general fund, said H.D. Palmer, a Finance Department spokesman. “There would be an offset to the general fund to the degree that these fees are and can be used for programs currently being funded by the general fund on greenhouse gas emissions,” Palmer said in a telephone interview yesterday. California will auction tradable allowances that permit industries such as power generators and oil refiners to release carbon into the atmosphere if they can’t meet requirements to lower their pollution to 1990 levels. Brown is seeking to boost general-fund spending by 7 percent to $92.6 billion while asking voters to raise income and sales taxes to ward off further cuts to schools.

Orange Juice Soars Most Since 2006 on Cold: Commodities at Close - Bloomberg

The Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of 24 commodities jumped 1.3 percent to 670.89 at 4:58 p.m. in London. The UBS Bloomberg CMCI index of 26 raw materials was up 1.2 percent at 1,570.452.

SOFT COMMODITIES

Orange-juice futures rose the most in five years on speculation that Florida’s orange crop, the world’s second biggest, sustained more damage than originally estimated last week from frigid weather. Orange juice for March delivery jumped the 20-cent exchange limit, or 11 percent, to $2.0775 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, the highest price since March 2007. A close at that level would be the biggest gain since October 2006 and leave the commodity up 23 percent for the month of January. Cocoa jumped in New York, heading for the biggest two-day gain in seven years, after a nationwide strike in Nigeria, the world’s fourth largest producer, added to speculation supplies will be disrupted. Raw sugar declined. Cocoa for March delivery rose 5.3 percent to $2,284 a metric ton on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. The two-day gain would be the biggest since November 2004. Cocoa for March delivery climbed 5.6 percent to 1,508 pounds ($2,332) a ton on NYSE Liffe in London.