Mexican orange growers said they are confident their juice exports will pass new U.S. inspections for an illegal fungicide that was found in Brazilian juice but is not common in Mexico.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday cleared the way for the first shipments of imported orange juice to enter the United States since Jan. 4 when authorities began testing for the chemical carbendazim, discovered in products from Brazil.

Three Mexican companies have already sent three cargo ships each to the United States for testing, said Arturo Marroquin, the head of Mexico's juice concentrate association.

Test results have yet to be announced for 28 import samples from Brazil, Mexico and Canada, but Marroquin expects the Mexican produce to be cleared this week.

The banned chemical is used in Brazil to combat blossom blight and black spot, a type of mold that grows on orange trees but is not used on Mexican orange crops, Marroquin said.

"The product exists in Mexico but it is only used on other varieties (of produce)," he said.

Several Mexican companies have had their produce tested in private labs with negative results, said Marroquin, whose association represents nine companies that handle 80 percent of the country's juice trade.

Even if the testing process by U.S. health regulators is slow, there is sufficient warehousing capacity in Mexico to wait out further delays, said Aucensio Mata, who represents the country's some 60,000 orange growers.

Mexico is the No. 2 exporter of orange juice in concentrate to the United States after Brazil and during a peak year can ship 900,000 tons north.

But Mexico's crop was hit this year by frost and drought and will likely be cut in half at between 400,000 tons and 500,000 tons, Mata said.

The orange season is just beginning in Mexico.

The FDA's move riveted industry attention and sent the commodities market for orange juice on its wildest rollercoaster ride in more than 20 years.

Orange juice futures fell more than 5 percent last week, down from record prices during a fungicide-induced rally.

In Mexico's No. 1 orange growing state, Veracruz, growers were not concerned about the more rigorous inspections since juice in concentrate can be stored in the factories where it is processed for at least a month and a half.

"There is a lot of warehouse capacity," said Antonio Soberon from the Veracruz state growers council.

The state, on the Gulf of Mexico, grows 50 percent of all the oranges grown in the country. Mexico mainly exports juice in concentrate to the United States, not fresh fruit.

"We are not affected, we can keep this juice for a long time," he said.

PepsiCo Inc, maker of Tropicana orange juice, and rival Coca-Cola Co, which makes Minute Maid orange juice, have said they have found low levels of carbendazim in juice shipments from Brazil.

In the United States carbendazim use is limited to non-food items such as paints, textiles and ornamental trees, although U.S. authorities allow trace amounts of carbendazim in 31 food types including grains, nuts and some non-citrus fruits. (Reuters)