Business in brief

Maytag's plant closing, affecting 1,600 Ill. workers\nGALESBURG, Ill. -- Maytag Corp. will close its refrigerator production plant in Galesburg by late 2004, affecting 1,600 workers, the company announced Friday. \nThe plant is no longer "competitively viable" in a refrigeration market that has seen competitors move production to Mexico over the last few years, Jim Little, Maytag's vice president of operations, wrote in a letter to employees. \nThe closing will be phased in. Initial production cuts are expected to begin in 2003. \nBill Beer, president of Maytag Appliances, said in a news release, "We deeply regret that we could not identify a cost-effective solution that would allow us to continue the long-term production of refrigerators in Galesburg."\nReliant officials dispute state's energy report\nSAN FRANCISCO -- Reliant Energy officials are disputing a report by state regulators that said nearly all the blackouts that swept through California in 2001 could have been avoided if energy companies had bid all their available energy. \nIn a report released Friday and sent to state lawmakers, officials with the Houston-based energy company said the analysis by the California Public Utilities Commission "has no basis in reality.'' \n"It is a superficial analysis of a complex matter, filled with errors and omissions, and biased in both methodology and use of available data,'' said John H. Stout, a Reliant senior vice president. \nThe PUC's report, released in September, found that all Southern California blackouts and 65 percent of Northern California blackouts occurred because generators ramped down production at their power plants. \nIt's based on information obtained by the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Price Manipulation of the Wholesale Energy Market, which has collected more than 1 million documents and subpoenaed more than two dozen energy companies. \nThe state claims it was overcharged nearly $20 billion during the power crisis, and largely blames the five largest generators: Duke, Dynegy, Mirant, Reliant and AES/Williams. Other power companies, including Duke and Williams, also have disputed the report's findings. \nThe PUC said the report discredited the energy companies' claims that the crisis was caused solely by a lack of energy. \nBut Reliant officials said the analysis was based on faulty evidence.\nNYSE Chairman is bullish on reforms\nBOCA RATON, Fla. -- The markets are no longer gripped by "irrational exuberance'' but an "irrational depression'' that won't easily be turned around, the New York Stock Exchange's chairman and chief executive said Friday. \nDick Grasso told hundreds of traders that only reform, not profits, would allow Wall Street to regain the public's trust following a slew of corporate accounting scandals that helped push the Dow Jones industrial average down nearly 22 percent this year. \n"We must always aspire to guarantee you fairness, to guarantee you transparency and credibility of those financial statements,'' Grasso said during a speech at the Security Traders Association's annual conference. \nHe said in 10 years, many will question why "this country went from irrational exuberance to irrational depression'' from 1997 to 2002. \n"We've seen the cycle so many times,'' he said. "This is still the greatest platform on earth.'' \nGrasso said Wall Street wants to send the message that it will regain the public's confidence so people will put their money in the equities markets. \nOn Thursday, Nasdaq Chairman Hardwick Simmons made the same plea. He spoke of "an atmosphere of gloom'' among investors and corporate executives and urged investors not to spend their money on high-priced real estate. \n"The markets will turn,'' he promised. \nFlorida's Orange Crop to Be Smaller \nORLANDO, Fla. -- Florida's orange crop will be 14 percent smaller than last season, increasing prices for growers but possibly driving U.S. juice makers to import more juice from Brazil, agricultural officials said Friday. \nFlorida growers are expected to produce 197 million 90-pound boxes of oranges during the 2002-2003 season, which begins later this month and ends in late spring, according to a forecast released by the USDA Agricultural Statistics Board. \nDry weather in the early part of the year, combined with sporadic rainfall in the spring, caused the smaller crop. Heavy rainfall during the summer accelerated the crop's maturity, according to the USDA. \nFlorida growers produced 230 million boxes of oranges last season, and a record crop of 244 million boxes of oranges was produced during the 1997-1998 season. \n"Fruit prices will be at their highest level in several seasons,'' said Andy LaVigne, CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, the state's largest growers' group. \nWhile the orange crop was expected to be smaller, the size of the fruit was expected to be larger and the fruit was expected to be sweeter, said Bob Crawford, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus. \nThe consumer likely won't see a price increase for juice at grocery stores since there's an ample supply of stock from last season's juice which sold at lower prices, he said. \nBut the smaller crop will cause frozen concentrated orange juice to be sold at a higher price on the commodities market, Crawford said. Last season, the average price was below $1 per pound solids, but Crawford estimated it will move up to $1.10 per pound solids this season. \nA pound solid is the amount of sugars and acid in a box of fruit and is the measure of how growers are paid for their fruit.