The USDA refused to limit orange shipments.

Secretary of Agriculture John R. Block suspended volume controls at the end of January, saying that prices had risen above the parity level used to justify them. The Los Angeles-based Navel Orange Administrative Committee sought to reimpose the marketing order, limiting shipments to 1,350 rail cars for the week ending next Thursday. Marketing orders seek to regulate the flow of produce to the market to avoid gluts and shortages. The Agriculture Department maintains that federal law requires a lifting of the restrictions if prices exceed parity. The higher prices, welcomed by California growers, stem from two years of freezes in Florida and Texas, plus last year’s outbreak of citrus canker in Florida.