Market News
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Market News: January 26, 2010
STRAWBERRIES: Valentine’s Day pull which starts in a week has set it self up to be a very challenging one. All packs of Strawberries including Long stems for Valentine’s Day will be very hard to come by to say the least. Market is active on both Coasts.
Weather: The West Coast is bracing for another Pacific low pressure storm system to impact California today into Wednesday. Rainfall totals in Southern California could reach the 1/2 to 1 inch range with up to ¼ inch possible in the desert locals. Another system set for late this week looks to remain in Central California and north in latest forecasts.
A slight warm up is expected beginning mid week but overall temperatures will remain 5-10 degrees below seasonal norms through the week. Low pressure pushing through Florida today will bring a chance of showers to the region before moving out this afternoon. High pressure behind this cold front will usher in colder temperatures and breezy conditions through mid week. Low temperatures in the mid-30s in the north to mid 40s south, with highs in the high 60s to mid 70s look to be the norm. High pressure moves out mid week with another system entering the mix with a chance of showers over the weekend.
APPLES/PEARS
Red Delicious, Gold Delicious and Granny Smith, along with most all varietals apples, remain in short supply on small sized fruit. This will be a season long dilemma and each week the supplies get lighter. Demand continues to be very strong on small fruit and will continue to be very strong in comparison to the available supply. Deals remain in the larger sized fruit, and quality is excellent on all apples. Specialty apples, including the Honey crisp variety, are still available and in adequate supply. Anjou Pears are in excellent shape with better supplies in Washington. Bartlett pears are in short supply. There are also varietals pears available including Bosc, Seckel, Concorde, Comice and Crimson Red. Please consider different varieties on red apples in order to fill orders that require 100’s, 125’s, 138’s and smaller.
ASPARAGUS
The asparagus market has remained steady. Supplies are light on jumbo and standard sizing from Mexico. Supplies are good on small, large and extra large. Peru still has supplies coming into the East and West Coast. Prices remain steady with availability on all sizes. The Quality of Mexican product continues to be good
AVOCADO
Mexico and Chile shipments are steady. California fruit harvest continues to be slowed by the rains. The over all supplies remain good. Demand is good.
Mexican Fruit: Mexico represents about 2/3 of the market at this time. They continue to have excellent quality and good steady supplies.
California Fruit: All shippers have stop picking due to the rains. Harvest will resume as weather clears.
Chilean Fruit: Chilean fruit season is approaching the end. There will be a final push for the Superbowl. Quality remains very good.
BELL PEPPERS
Western Green Bells and Colored Bells:
Supplies are lighter to start the week due to rain is some of the growing areas. Look for supplies to come back mid week as growers get back into their fields Tuesday and Wednesday. Colored bells from Mexico remain in good supplies, but look to lighten up as we move through the week and into next week.
Eastern Bells: The market on Florida pepper is steady from the weekend, but the supplies will once again dwindle, as growers have picked about all they can out of the fields. Expect this market to shoot up at the end of the week along with
quality issues related to the recent freeze.
BERRIES
Strawberries: California Strawberry growing regions where hit hard last week with rain. The forecast is for rain again this Tuesday/Wednesday then again on the weekend. Growers are only getting about 20% of their harvest packed for the fresh market the start of this week. Quality will remain problematic with white shoulder, bruise, pin rot, mold and water damage likely to be prevalent as fields recover. Only order what you need. It will take some time for fields to recover and produce quality fruit with upcoming weather patterns the determining factor or crucial to future volume and quality. The only good news in the strawberry world currently is that nice weather in Florida since the freezing temperatures have increase volumes from this region. I feel this will be short lived however and harvest numbers will drop quickly. This is due to bloom damage done during the freeze coupled with cold temperatures shutting down the plants growth cycle for an extended 2+ week period. Valentine’s Day pull which starts in a week has set it self up to be a very challenging one. All packs of Strawberries including Long stems for Valentine’s Day will be very hard to come by to say the least. Market is active on both Coasts.
Raspberries: Supplies have increased slightly the start of this week with a slightly weaker market. Quality is being reported as good. Driscoll is the main supplier at this time of the year.
Blackberries: Blackberry supplies are limited due wet weather in the growing areas. Market is slightly higher. Quality is fair.
Blueberries: Good retail demand this week has firmed up the market. Availably is also limited on all pack sizes. Quality is great. Look for supplies to get limited them middle of February due to the freeze Chile had a few months ago.
BROCCOLI
Supplies are good and many suppliers have come out at the beginning of the week very aggressive on bunch and crown product. Supplies look to be good throughout the week. The quality is strong, coming out of Santa Maria, Yuma, and Scottsdale. There is some product being harvested in Salinas if desired.
CARROTS
California carrots coming out of Bakersfield are finally starting to size up and there is a little better supply of jumbo carrots.
CAULIFLOWER
This market continues to be steady with most suppliers. Demand is down and with a push this market could be stronger. Brown and black spotting and discoloration continues to be seen sporadically upon arrivals on this commodity. Past cold weather is the cause of this defect. Supplies currently are ample to fill all orders.
CELERY
Product is more readily available on large sizing and pricing varies from 3-4 dollars compared to the smaller sizes. There are a few shippers having product in Yuma if Oxnard and Santa Maria is not desired. With Florida still recovering from the freeze, pressure will continue to be put on California production to pick up the slack. The pricing this week should continue to be active throughout the week.
CITRUS
Lemons: Supplies are good on 115’s and larger, with 165’s and especially 200’s becoming very tight. Quality is very good.
Limes: There are good supplies available with a good run of sizes.
Oranges: Demand remains steady. Rain forecast for this week and next could keep supplies light. Crop continues to peak on fancy 72’s, 56’s and 88’s. The supplies of choice grades remain tight.
CUCUMBERS
Western Cucumber: Mainland Mexico production continues with good steady supplies to start the week, but
shippers will have lighter volume towards the weekend.
Eastern Cucumbers: The off shore supplies are gradually increasing and with the dropping market on the west, the Eastcould begin to see the cucumber market decline in the coming weeks. Quality has been fair at best – typical on the first few shipments out of Honduras.
GRAPES
Chilean flames with good availability but product is still very small. Thompsons and Sugarones are in good supplies with product peeking to the med/large size. There should be good supplies for the Valentines Day pull on red seedless but we may see greens gapping next week. Good availability on the seeded Red Globe with excellent quality. Black seedless with limited supplies and very good quality.
GREEN ONIONS
This market is steady. Supplies are on the light side out of Mexico but all orders are being filled. Demand has definitely been stronger these past few weeks and it looks to be strong throughout the week, as numbers will be light from Mexican production. Pencil sizes are still the largest volume available. The quality continues to be good with no significant problems to report. Processors have had minimal problems with the raw product available.
LEAF LETTUCE
Suppliers have attempted to raise pricing, but demand has not justified this. Red leaf continues to demand a higher price compared to other leaf items. Florida has started packing romaine. Romaine and romaine hearts continue to show blister and epidermal peel from the cold temperature experienced last month out of Yuma. Quality has been average with tip burn and fringe burn showing up in some lots. Weather issues will inevitably cause quality issues towards the end of the week on all leaf items. Expect pricing to get stronger towards the end of the week if there is any demand for product.
LETTUCE
This lettuce market is steady, with a variance in pricing by 2-3 dollars. The quality has been good with weights in the 40-44 pound range. Florida has started production also. Suppliers are expecting stronger production numbers at
the end of the week. Rain is expected in the Yuma region Tuesday and Wednesday, then clear for the rest of the week. Muddy boxes will continue to be seen on the front side of this week upon arrivals.
MELONS
Cantaloupe: Honduran fruit is now available but supplies are dependent on when containers come in. Small fruit 15’s and smaller are still extremely limited. Shipping points in Pompano Beach and Port Manatee, FL as well as LosAngeles, CA and Camden, NJ continue to receive fruit but again sizes are mostly large (12ct and larger). The prices remain at higher levels on the small size fruit. There are extremely limited supplies of Mexican cantaloupes crossing through the Nogales, AZ point of entry and quality is fair at best. Overall quality for the offshore fruit is still very good.
Honeydew: Offshore fruit is still arriving into Florida, California and New Jersey with volume supplies mainly in 5’s and 6’s. Supplies on 8’s and smaller continue to be light. Good supplies of honeydew out of Mexico and the quality is good.
ONIONS
The Idaho/Oregon yellow onion market has stabilized. The export demand remains strong but time will tell how it affects the domestic pricing. For now the market is level. Quality is still very nice and sizing is still heavy to jumbos and larger. Reds are up slightly as we are nearing the end of the storage deal for most packers. Once the Idaho/Oregon packers start buying from Washington the market will jump upwards. Now is a good time to go heavier on reds. The white onion market is still in a demand exceeds supplies situation as Mexico is buying all they can although the market is down slightly. We expect the white market will remain strong into the Mexican/Texas deal.
POTATOES
The Idaho potato market is steady to slightly lower with light demand. Most shippers are hungry for business and are still peaking on 70ct. Quality is good with a few shippers reporting some light peepers showing up in their storage potatoes. Norkotah, western, and Burbank varieties are being packed in Idaho. Washington Norkotahs are going strong with good quality and availability, and light demand. Washington shippers are peaking on 60ct and larger. Colorado is going strong steady supplies, light demand, and good quality. Mount Vernon, Washington has good availability on red and Yukon-gold potatoes, while they have some whites but not as many. The quality in Mount Vernon is excellent. North Dakota and Wisconsin have good supplies of red & yellow potatoes with few whites. Some California packers have good supplies on reds, whites, and yellows while some are experiencing low pack-outs on the Yukon’s.
SQUASH
Western Squash: Yellow squash remains short. Italian supplies are good, but lighter to start the week due to rains in the northern fields. Look for supplies to improve by mid week. Yellow squash is still a couple of weeks away from any real increase in supplies.
Eastern Squash: Domestic supplies of squash in Florida have been all but wiped out by the weekend freeze. Many Florida shippers are bringing yellow squash in out of the West just to try to cover. The market on green, however, appears to be dropping as Nogales continues to lower their prices.
STONE FRUIT
Cherries are cleaning up and demand remains strong for good quality fruit. Peaches are in good supply and will remain that way over the next week. All other stone fruit including nectarines, plums and apricots are limited.
TOMATOES
Eastern: Florida has encountered a very cold arctic blast that has brought temps below freezing in the previous weeks, and we are now seeing the effects. The temperatures are continuing to remain cooler than normal (but not freezing) and will continue into this week for the southern growing areas. The damage the frost is becoming a bit clearer as growers are finding out if they need to re-plant or get another harvest off of existing plants. There has been significant crop loss and supplies out of Florida will be down and won’t rebound probably until spring. Growers have initially picked as much fruit as possible to salvage as much of the crop as they could, but are now running out of that fruit. We can expect to see higher fob’s probably up through the spring accompanied with shortened supplies. Quality issues are appearing with some light spotting and some softer than normal fruit, but for the most part growers are doing a good job packing decent fruit.
Western: Limited harvesting in Florida has increased interest in Nogales, but supplies are plentiful land what demand is there is not overbearing or exceeding supplies. There has surprisingly enough there has been a price decrease out of Nogales and San Diego. They both have certainly loaded on fruit with color, which is the primary because fro the price decreases that we are currently seeing. As the shippers clean up on the color they may try to take price back up (production and demand will dictate). The Roma market is at the bottom right now with prices based off of Mexican Minimums. The tighter fruit is cherry and grape tomatoes.
WATERMELON There is very little fruit coming in from Mexico and FOB’s continue to rise on both seeded and seedless. The seeded being the shortest in supply as some shippers are no longer growing of them. The mini seedless are very limited and what is out there is disappearing quickly. Quality continues to be excellent on the fruit that is available.
VALUE ADDED Chopped romaine and romaine blended items continue to experience brown and red discoloration on finished product. Suppliers are working diligently to use the best raw material available for the processing facilities. The cold weather Yuma Arizona has been experiencing has resulted in product having a shorter shelf life. The processed cauliflower has had a few issues on brown and black spotting. Again, processors are using the best product available.
Market News: January 19, 2010
Weather: The West Coast is bracing for a series of strong Pacific low pressure storm systems behind the current system impacting California today. Strong winds (25-40mph) are forecast throughout California and the desert growing regions as this system moves east and another system moves into the Pacific Northwest. Models anticipate at least three significant storm systems to slam into California during this time frame. Rainfall totals could easily reach the 4 to 8 inch range with double digit amounts in the mountains. This jet stream pattern will likely bring significant rain to the Desert regions as well as strong winds and much cooler temperatures to the entire Southwest this week. These storm systems will impact harvests in Southern California and the desert regions this week. High pressure in the Gulf of Mexico will move over Florida early this week with only high clouds in the forecast. High temperatures in the 70s with lows in the 50s will be the norm through mid-week. Mid range forecast show a potential showers and a slight warm-up late this week. Crop damage assessments are continuing in this region following the freeze and rain of last week.
APPLES/PEARS
Red Delicious, Gold Delicious and Granny Smith, along with most all varietals apples, remain in short supply on small sized fruit. This will be a season long dilemma and each week the supplies get lighter. Demand continues to be very strong on small fruit and will continue to be very strong in comparison to the available supply. Deals remain in the larger sized fruit, and quality is excellent on all apples. Specialty apples, including the Honey crisp variety, are still available and in adequate supply. Anjou Pears are in excellent shape with better supplies in Washington. Bartlett pears are in short supply. There are also varietals pears available including Bosc, Seckel, Concorde, Comice and Crimson Red. Please consider different varieties on red apples in order to fill orders that require 100’s, 125’s, 138’s and smaller.
ASPARAGUS
The asparagus market is steady. Supplies the previous week were light out of Mexico; however supplies are much better to start the week. Jumbo sizing is still very light and will likely be light throughout the week. Peru still has supplies coming into the East and West Coast. Prices remain steady with availability on all sizes. The Quality has been nice on the new crop coming from Mexico.
AVOCADO
Mexico and Chile shipments are lighter, but steady. The over all supplies remain good.
Mexican Fruit: Mexico represents about 2/3 of the market at this time. They continue to have excellent quality and good steady supplies.
California Fruit: All shippers are picking limited volume of California fruit. Supplies will slowly increase as we move through the month. Maturity is very early.
Chilean Fruit: Chilean fruit is now coming in on smaller vessels and volumes are much lighter coming to the states. Quality remains very good.
BELL PEPPERS
Western Green Bells and Colored Bells: With the freezing weather in Florida, demand continues to increase for Mexican product and is driving up the market on green bells. Production remains lighter this week, but should see slight increases over the next couple of weeks. Colored bells from Mexico are in good supplies, but expect them to shorten up in the up coming weeks
Eastern Bells: Florida’s weekend freeze has devastated bell pepper supplies. Demand will far exceed supplies this week and with continued cold temperatures in the Southeast there will be no relief for at least two more weeks. Additionally quality will be poor due to how easily pepper bruises in cold weather.
BERRIES
Strawberries: Rain, Rain Go away. California will be receiving rain all week which will limit supplies the balance of this week. There could be days this week which the growers will not be able to harvest at all. Look for the quality to go down hill as this week moves on. Water soaked berries, decay, pin rot, and 10% to 30% white shoulders showing up in the packs. Florida growers are back in to their fields this week with light to moderate supplies. Quality is fair with a firm market. The long range forecast for California is for the storm track to open up for the next two weeks. This will interrupt product off the west coast and make for a demand exceeds situation on both coasts. If this weather does open up for the next two weeks in California it will have a major effect on the Valentine Day pull that is coming up the first part of February.
Raspberries: Supplies are steady with good demand the start of this week. Market is firm and quality is being reported as good. Driscoll is the main supplier at this time of the year.
Blackberries: Blackberry supplies are limited due wet weather in the growing areas. Market is slightly higher. Quality is fair.
Blueberries: Moderate demand with improving supplies is starting to weaken the market slightly. Quality is great.
BROCCOLI
Although business is slow, suppliers have attempted to raise pricing slightly to start the week. Rain is expected to be in all the growing regions this week, and harvesting will be lighter. Supplies continue to be ample to fill all orders. The quality is strong from all areas.
CARROTS
California carrots coming out of Bakersfield are finally starting to size up and there is a little better supply of jumbo carrots.
CAULIFLOWER
This market continues to be steady with most suppliers. Brown and black spotting and discoloration has been seen sporadically upon arrivals on this commodity. This was due to the very cold weather the past few weeks. The heavy rains expected throughout the week will inevitably affect the quality going forward. Supplies are good to fill all orders.
CELERY
This market is very active. The freeze in Florida has sent many customers to the Oxnard region for product. Clearly, this market demand exceeds supplies and this will continue throughout the week. The supplies vary amongst the shippers in terms of sizing available. There has been light production in Yuma; however pricing is almost the same as Oxnard. Florida production will continue to be light throughout the week.
CITRUS
Lemons: Supplies are good on 115’s and larger, with 165’s and especially 200’s becoming very tight. Quality is very good.
Limes: Supplies are back this week as weather has cleared. Sizes are peaking on 200’s and 230’s and 175’s. Quality remains good.
Oranges: Demand is very strong. Heavy rains this week and next week should keep supplies very tight. Crop continues to peak on fancy 72’s, 56’s and 88’s. The supplies of choice grades remain tight.
CUCUMBERS
Western Cucumber: Mainland Mexico production remains steady. Demand is steady, and the market looks to hold through the week.
Eastern Cucumbers: Florida’s frigid temperatures have ended the domestic cucumber deal. The market on the off shore product will be high for the next week or so, as is typical with the scarce supplies at the beginning of the off shore deal. Many suppliers will push for even higher prices in keeping with the sky rocketing prices on other Florida product. Quality, however, is good.
GRAPES
Domestic grapes have all but finished for the season. Chilean flames with better availability this week. There should be good supplies for the Valentines Day pull on red seedless but we may see greens gapping the first week of February. The forecasted rain may tighten supplies toward the end of this week on the west coast. Good availability on the seeded Red Globe with excellent quality. Black seedless with limited supplies and very good quality.
GREEN ONIONS
This market is steady to start the week. Labor workers have returned however the crop as lessened. Demand is light and all orders are being filled. Pencil sizes are still the largest volume available. The quality continues to be good with no significant problems to report. Processors have had minimal problems with the raw product available.
LEAF LETTUCE
The market continues to be steady. Red leaf continues to demand a higher price compared to other leaf items. Florida has started packing romaine. Romaine and romaine hearts continue to show blister and epidermal peel from the cold temperature experienced last month out of Yuma. Quality has been average with tip burn and fringe burn showing up in some lots. This market should be stronger towards the middle of the week with all the rains expected.
LETTUCE
This lettuce market is steady. Prices continue to vary by 2-3 dollars depending on the shipper. Quality has been good with weights in the 40-44 pound range. Florida has started production also. There continues to be some lots reporting epidermal peel and blister. Heavy rains expected throughout the week will be a factor in the upcoming quality of this product out of the Yuma region.
MELONS
Cantaloupe: Honduran fruit is just getting going and supplies are dependent on when containers come in. Small fruit 15’s and smaller are still extremely limited. We should start to see some Costa Rican fruit arriving in a light way over the next couple of weeks. Shipping points in Pompano Beach and Port Manatee, FL as well as Los Angeles, CA and Camden, NJ continue to receive fruit but again sizes are mostly large (12ct and larger). The prices remain at higher levels on the small size fruit. There are extremely limited supplies of Mexican cantaloupes crossing through the Nogales, AZ point of entry and quality is fair at best. Overall quality for the offshore fruit is still very good.
Honeydew: Offshore fruit is still arriving into Florida, California and New Jersey with volume supplies mainly in 5’s and 6’s. Supplies on 8’s and smaller continue to be light. Good supplies of Honeydew out of Mexico and the quality is good.
ONIONS
The Northwest yellow onion market is very active due to good demand for export overseas and into Mexico. Look for this trend to continue for the next couple of weeks. Quality is still very nice with sizing still peaking on jumbos and
larger. Steady demand and supplies of red onions has kept this market steady. Demand exceeds supplies on all sizes of white onions out of all areas. Market is very active.
POTATOES
Cold weather is the only thing that can slow down production which might increase the market. Most shippers are peaking on 70ct. Quality is still good with a few shippers reporting some light peepers starting to show up in some of their storage potatoes. This is mainly caused by the shippers having to run some heat on the storage potatoes to keep them from freezing. Both Norkotahs and Burbanks are being packed depending on the shipper. Washington Norkotahs are going strong with good quality and availability. Washington shippers are peaking on 60ct and larger. Colorado is going strong with supplies as well. Mount Vernon, Washington, has good availability on colored potatoes; product quality is excellent. North Dakota and Wisconsin have good supplies of red, yellow and white potatoes. California supplies will increase as more shippers come on board in the next couple of weeks with red, yellow and white potatoes.
SQUASH
Western Squash: Yellow squash remains very short. Italian supplies have improved as we start this week and look to continue to increase over the next 7 to 10 days and the yellow squash will follow about a week later.
Eastern Squash: Domestic supplies of squash in Florida have been all but wiped out by the weekend freeze. Many Florida shippers are bringing squash in out of the West just to try to cover contracts, but those supplies are dwindling as well. The market on yellow is already at its peak – now it is just a matter of availability.
STONE FRUIT
Cherries are winding down, demand remains strong for good quality fruit as there have been some quality issues out there. Peaches are in good supply and will remain that way over the next week. All other stone fruit including nectarines, plums and apricots are limited.
TOMATOES
Eastern: Florida has encountered a very cold arctic blast that has brought temps below freezing in the previous week. The temperatures are currently cooler than normal (but not freezing) and will continue into this week for the southern growing areas. The damage the frost is becoming a bit clearer as growers are finding out if they need to re-plant or get another harvest off of existing plants. Growers have picked as much fruit as possible to salvage as much of the crop as they can, and are running out of that fruit. We can expect to see higher fob’s probably up through the spring accompanied with shortened supplies. Quality issues will probably not appear for another week.
Western: Limited harvesting in Florida has increased interest in Nogales. Nogales continues facing challenges getting fruit with color, everything is crossing very green. Supplies are not up to full speed either. Typically we would be full bore by now, but with cooler than normal temps in Mexico is slowing production. Shippers in Nogales will need advance notice on load volume orders, calling for at least two days notice to allocate fruit accordingly. All tomato packs are higher with fob than weeks previous.
WATERMELON
There is very little fruit coming in from Mexico and FOB’s continue to rise on both seeded and seedless. The mini seedless are very limited and what is out there is disappearing quickly. Quality continues to be excellent on the fruit that is available.
VALUE ADDED
Chopped romaine and romaine blended items continue to experience brown and red discoloration on finished product. Suppliers are working diligently to use the best raw material available for the processing facilities. The cold weather Yuma Arizona has been experiencing has resulted in product having a shorter shelf life. The cauliflower and broccoli raw product availability is ample to fill demand. Brown spotting on cauliflower florets, yellowing and pale color on broccoli florets will be common issues talked about with these products.
Market News: January 12, 2010
Weather: A series of Pacific low pressure storm systems will begin to impact the high pressure ridge dominating the West this week. As these systems begin to break down the ridge low pressure systems (rain) will begin to impact the Southwest possibly by next week. The current system approaching the Northwest will bring rain to Central California and to the north with a slight (10%) chance of rain forecast for Southern California and the Desert locals. Strong winds (20 30mph) are expected mid-week as this system moves east and another system moves into the Pacific Northwest. A brief warm up is forecast for late this week into the weekend. High temperatures in the low to mid 70s with lows in the 40s look to be the norm this week. Clear skies across Florida, combined with the current Arctic cold air advection, have led to many areas experiencing record low temperatures over the weekend into this morning. Record lows were broken across Northern and Central Florida with even some southern zones (Fort Myers 30 degrees) reporting record low temperatures.
Forecasts expect another couple of cold nights, especially in Central Florida and to the north, before temperatures begin to moderate mid-week, returning to seasonal temperatures with a chance of showers late this week.
APPLES/PEARS
Red Delicious, Gold Delicious and Granny Smith, along with most all varietals apples, remain in short supply on small sized fruit. This will be a season long dilemma and each week the supplies get lighter. Demand continues to be very strong on small fruit and will continue to be very strong in comparison to the available supply. Deals remain in the larger sized fruit, and quality is excellent on all apples. Specialty apples, including the Honey crisp variety, are still available and in adequate supply. Anjou Pears are in excellent shape with better supplies in Washington. Bartlett pears are in short supply. There are also varietals pears available including Bosc, Seckel, Concorde, Comice and Crimson Red. Please consider different varieties on red apples in order to fill orders that require 100’s, 125’s, 138’s and smaller.
ASPARAGUS
The asparagus market is steady with more supplies starting to come from Mexico. Peru still has supplies coming into the East and West Coast. Prices remain steady with availability on all sizes. Quality will be nice on the new crop coming from Mexico. But the quality on the Peruvian product varies on each shipment.
AVOCADO
Mexico and Chile shipments are lighter, but steady. The over all supplies remain good. Demand is getting better.
Mexican Fruit: Mexico represents about 2/3 of the market at this time. They continue to have excellent quality and good steady supplies.
California Fruit: All shippers are picking limited volume of California fruit. Supplies will slowly increase as we move through the month. Maturity is very early.
Chilean Fruit: Chilean fruit is now coming in on smaller vessels and volumes are much lighter coming to the states. Quality remains very good.
BELL PEPPERS
Western Green Bells and Colored Bells: With the freezing weather in Florida, demand continues to increase for Mexican product and is driving up the market on green bells. Production remains lighter this week, but should see slight increases over the next couple of weeks. Colored bells from Mexico are in good supplies, but expect them to shorten up in the up coming weeks as growers start to harvest them green to catch the high value on the green market.
Eastern Bells: Florida’s weekend freeze has devastated bell pepper supplies. Demand will far exceed supplies this week and with continued cold temperatures in the Southeast there will be no relief for at least two more weeks. Additionally quality will be poor due to how easily pepper bruises in cold weather.
BERRIES
Strawberries: Florida hit with it coldest night of the year last night. Lows were between 17 and 22 depending on location of the farm. Forecast is for a warming trend as this week moves on which will help the strawberry growers to get back into harvesting strawberries this week. Market is still active the start of this week but should start to soften later in the week out of Florida. Quality out of Florida is fair at best. Expect some water damage and bruising to be in most packs. Look for a production gap in about a month due the plants not producing blooms in the past 10 days. California has been getting some ideal weather temps in the mid to low 70’s. Volumes are slowing picking up each week and quality is great. California strawberry market is active due to light or no harvest out of Florida. Again look for the market to soften if the weather in Florida improves this week.
Raspberries: The main growing area this time of the year is Mexico and they have been getting rain and cooler weather late last week which has slowed down the harvest of Raspberries. Most of the raspberries are grown under hoops in Mexico so we should not see any quality issues but supplies will be light due to the cool weather. Market is active with good demand. Driscoll is the main supplier at this time of the year.
Blackberries: Blackberry supplies are limited due wet weather in the growing areas late last week. Market is steady but will increase as this week moves on. Quality is fair.
Blueberries: Moderate demand with improving supplies is starting to weaken the market slightly. Quality is great.
BROCCOLI
This market is flat. Supplies are good from several growing regions. All shippers are looking to move all pack sizes and look to discount prices for volume deals all week. Quality is great from all areas.
CARROTS
California carrots coming out of Bakersfield are finally starting to size up and there is a little better supply of jumbo carrots.
CAULIFLOWER
This market is steady with good supplies this week from all shippers. Shippers will be offering deals to move excess volume this week. There should be good quality and weight. But there are some lots that are showing black spotting and brown discoloration.
CELERY
The celery market is steady. Prices are still in the double digits but there seems to be average supplies. There are more supplies of smaller size celery that shippers are offering discounts. Florida production has been slowed down by the recent freeze down there. This will put pressure on the West Coast for more supplies. Quality is good from both areas.
CITRUS
Lemons: Supplies are good on 115’s and larger, with 165’s and especially 200’s becoming very tight. Quality is very good.
Limes: Supplies are short this week due to rainy weather in Mexico last week. Sizes are peaking on 200’s and 230’s. Quality remains good.
Oranges: Demand is strong. Crop continues to peak on fancy 72’s, 56’s and 88’s. Supply of choice grades remains tight.
CUCUMBERS
Western Cucumber: Mainland Mexico production remains steady. Demand is very good due to Florida’s freeze
and the market is rising.
Eastern Cucumbers: Florida’s frigid temperatures have ended the domestic cucumber deal. The on and the off shore product will be high for the next week or so, as is typical with the beginning of the off shore deal. Many suppliers will push for even higher prices in keeping with the sky rocketing prices on other Florida product. Quality, however, is good.
GRAPES
Domestic Snack Pack grapes are finishing up and the first repacks from Chilean fruit have started in a light way; FOB’s are very high. Chilean flames with better availability this week. The containers are starting to come in more regularly so we should have more consistent supplies. The heaviest supplies are still in the Green Seedless (Sugarone and Thompson varieties). Palettes are still available in limited supply. Overall supplies on Green Seedless are very good right now. Demand remains strong for both Red and Green Seedless.
GREEN ONIONS
This market is a little stronger as supplies from Mexico are less due to a lack of workers available to harvest product. Pencil sizes are still the largest volume available. The quality continues to be good with no significant problems to report. Processors have had minimal problems with the raw product available.
LEAF LETTUCE
The market is steady at low prices. Supplies are plentiful from all shippers on all packs. Red leaf seems to be commanding higher prices due to lack of acreage planted by all shippers. Florida has started packing romaine. Romaine
and Romaine Hearts continue to show blister and epidermal peel from the cold temperature experienced last month out of Yuma. Quality has been average with tip burn and fringe burn showing up in some lots.
LETTUCE
This lettuce market is steady. Prices vary from shipper to shipper. Most suppliers are offering deals on product held over from the weekend. Quality has been very nice with weights in the 40-44 pound range. Florida has started production also. There have been some lots showing epidermal peel and blister.
MELONS
Cantaloupe: Honduran fruit is just getting going and supplies are dependent on when containers come in. Small fruit 15’s and smaller are still extremely limited. Costa Rica got a late start on planting so have been pushed back a few weeks from their normal start. We should start to see fruit from there by the end of this month or beginning of next month. Shipping points in Pompano Beach and Port Manatee, FL as well as Los Angeles, CA and Camden, NJ continue to receive fruit
but again sizes are mostly large (12ct and larger). The prices remain at higher levels on the small size fruit. There are extremely limited supplies of Mexican cantaloupes crossing through the Nogales, AZ point of entry and quality is fair at best. Overall quality for the offshore fruit is very good.
Honeydew: Offshore fruit is still arriving into Florida, California and New Jersey with volume supplies mainly in 5’s and 6’s. Supplies on 8’s and smaller continue to be light. Good supplies of Honeydew out of Mexico and the quality is good.
ONIONS
Good demand with lighter supplies has firmed up the Yellow onion market. Look for this trend to continue to the end of the Idaho season. Quality is still very nice with sizing still peaking on Jumbo’s. Steady demand and supplies of Red Onions has kept this market steady the start of this week. Demand exceeds supplies on all sizes of White onions out of all areas.
Market is very active.
POTATOES
Cold weather is making hard for some shippers to run potatoes the start of this week. Demand is still light with a steady market. Most shippers are peaking on 70ct. Retail demand has slowed which will tighten up the carton market slightly. Quality is still good with a few shippers reporting some light peepers starting to show up in some of their storage potatoes. This is mainly caused by the shippers having to run some heat on the storage potatoes to keep them from freezing. Both Norkotahs and Burbanks are being packed depending on the shipper. Washington Norkotahs are going is typical with the beginning of the off shore deal. Many suppliers will push for even higher prices in keeping with the sky rocketing prices on other Florida product. Quality, however, is good. strong with good quality and availability. Washington shippers are peaking on 60ct and larger. Colorado is going strong with supplies as well. Mount Vernon, Washington, has good availability on colored potatoes; product quality is excellent. North Dakota and Wisconsin have good supplies of red, yellow and white potatoes. California supplies will increase as more shippers come on board in the next couple of weeks with red, yellow and white potatoes.
SQUASH
Western Squash:
Increased demand form the east due the freezing weather in Florida is driving the market upward. Previous cool weather in Mexico has slowed production and supplies are light. Yellow squash is very tight. Italian supplies look to slowly increase over the next 1 to 2 weeks and Yellow in about 3 weeks. Demand is very strong and keep shippers clean.
Eastern Squash:
Domestic supplies of squash in Florida have been all but wiped out by the weekend freeze. Many Florida shippers are bringing squash in out of the West just to try to cover contracts, but those supplies are dwindling as well. This market is already at its peak – now it is just a matter of availability.
STONE FRUIT
There are still good supplies of both East and West coast imported cherries available, with heavier volume in the East. Sizing is large and quality is very good. Apricots are also available from air shipments, but sizing is limited and FOB pricing is somewhat high. Other Chilean fruit including peaches and nectarines are now arriving via vessel into both East and West Coast ports. Volumes are still limited.
TOMATOES
Eastern: Florida is currently encountering a very cold arctic blast that has brought temps below freezing. The temperatures are currently cooler than typical and will continue in the southern growing areas into this week. The damage the frost has done is unknown thus far, but growers are expecting crop damage none the less. Growers have picked as much fruit as possible to salvage as much of the crop as they
Western: limited harvesting in Florida has increased interest in Nogales. Nogales is facing challenges getting fruit with color, everything is crossing very green. Supplies are not up to full speed either. Typically we would be full bore by now, but with cooler than normal temps in Mexico is slowing production. Shippers in Nogales will need advance notice on load volume orders, calling for at least two days notice to allocate fruit accordingly.
WATERMELON
Colder weather in the watermelon growing districts continues to slow production especially in the seeded. Supplies are still crossing mainly through Nogales, AZ. Supplies are decent on Seedless, but sizing remains to the small side.
Markets remain strong for both Seeded and Seedless. Overall Watermelon quality is still very good.
VALUE ADDED
Raw product for romaine continues to give processors problems. The cold weather that Yuma Arizona has been experiencing has resulted in this item to have short shelf life and brown to red discoloration in some bags. The
cauliflower and broccoli raw product availability is ample to fill demand. Brown spotting on cauliflower florets, yellowing and pale color on broccoli florets will be common issues talked about with these products.
Market news is compiled of information from print and the internet. Sources may include ProAct, The Produce News, The Packer, etc.
Market News: January 1, 2010
Weather:
High pressure over the western desert regions will bring seasonal temperatures in the mid 70s with low in the high 30s through the week. There is a chance of lettuce ice in the coldest locations this week. In the Southeast a very cold dry air mass will continue to bring freezing temperatures to much of Florida over the next few days. A hard freeze warning is in effect especially in the north. High temperatures in the 50s with overnight lows in the 20s look to be the norm into mid week.
APPLES/PEARS
Red Delicious, Gold Delicious and Granny Smith, along with most all varietal apples, remain in short supply on small sized fruit. This will be a season long dilemma and each week the supplies get lighter. Schools are almost all back in session now after the holiday break. Demand continues to be very strong on small fruit and will continue to be very strong in comparison to the available supply. Deals remain in the larger sized fruit, and quality is excellent on all apples. Specialty apples,including the Honeycrisp variety, are still available and in good supply. Anjou Pears are in excellent shape with better supplies in Washington. Bartlett pears are still going strong. There are also varietal pears available including Bosc, Seckel, Concorde, Comice and Crimson Red.
ASPARAGUS
The asparagus market continues to be steady to start the week. The availability is stronger on the large sizing as opposed to standards. Prices and demand remain steady. Supplies will be plentiful for all orders except for jumbo size. The quality continues to be good from all areas.
AVOCADO
Mexico and Chile shipments are lighter, but steady. The over all supplies remain good.
Mexican Fruit: Mexico represents about 2/3 of the market at this time. They continue to have excellent quality and good steady supplies.
California Fruit: All shippers are picking limited volume of California fruit. Supplies will slowly increase as we move through the month. Maturity is very early.
Chilean Fruit: Chilean fruit is now coming in on smaller vessels. Volumes are much lighter coming to the states. Quality remains very good.
BELL PEPPERS
Western Green Bells and Colored Bells:
Mexico production dropped this week due to cooler wet weather. Also, many growers have let their greens go to the red stage. Mexico has started crossing better volume of Red and Yellow bells this week. Supplies of colored bells will continue to increase.
Eastern Bells: Market is tightening up and will continue to do so throughout the week. Cold weather has delayed picking and resulted in bruised peppers with those suppliers who are over eager to pick. With the temperatures in Florida expected to drop this market will climb in the coming days.
BERRIES
Strawberries: Very cool weather in the Florida growing areas has almost put harvest in this area to a stop. The forecast is for cool weather for the balance of this week. Production will be very limited with a firm market. Quality is fair to
good the start of this week. California has been having some nice weather but with the new grow just getting started does not have enough volume to meet demand. Market is firm with good quality fruit the start of this week.
Raspberries: Cool weather in Mexico is slowing raspberry harvest the start of this week. Quality is good. Demand exceeds supplies. Driscoll is the main supplier and we should start to see some light supplies of raspberries coming out of Mexico in the next couple of weeks.
Blackberries: Blackberry supplies are still limited the start of this week; this is mainly due to cool weather in the growing areas. Quality has started to improve. Currently supplies are mainly coming out of Mexico.
Blueberries: Supplies are starting to improve each week. Market is still firm. Quality is being reported as good.
BROCCOLI
Suppliers have started the week strong in availability. Loading for product can be had in Yuma, Salinas and Santa Maria. Pricing has eased up as business has slowed down. Some defects that have been reported include yellowing, knuckling, and pale green appearance.
CARROTS
California carrots coming out of Bakersfield are still sizing slower due to cooler weather. Jumbo market is firm.
CAULIFLOWER
This market is a little stronger to start the week. Expect supplies to be on the lighter side with most suppliers throughout the week. Most shippers are still harvesting ahead of schedule. It is important to remember that growers have planted less acreage in the Yuma growing region than in past seasons and this will inevitably cause volumes to be inconsistent all season. Light spotting has been seen sporadically upon arrivals.
CELERY
The celery market continues to get softer. Florida has started production and this will inevitably lower pricing in the marketplace. Supplies seem to be stronger on 24s and 30s out of the Oxnard region. The quality continues to be strong with no major issues to report. Cold weather, similar to this past week, is expected all through the week.
CITRUS
Lemons: Supplies are good on 140’s and larger, with 165’s and especially 200’s becoming very tight. Quality is very good.
Limes: Supplies remain lighter due to cold wet weather in Mexico. Volume of larger sizes is picking up. Quality remains good.
Oranges: Crop continues to peak on fancy 72’s and 88’s followed by 56’s and 113’s. Supplies of choice grades remain tight.
CUCUMBERS
Western Cucumber:
Mainland Mexico is improving, but also the demand for them. Demand is good and the market has a firmer feel.
Eastern Cucumbers: Florida’s frigid temperatures will bring an end to the domestic supply of cucumbers this week. The market on the off shore product will be strong this week as Florida’s cucumber crop dwindles. Quality on off shores should be good.
GRAPES
Chilean flames with better availability this week. The containers should start coming in more regularly so we should have more consistent supplies. The heaviest supplies are still in the Green Seedless (Sugarone and Thompson varieties). 18# Brazilian Festival green seedless are available as well. Overall supplies on Green Seedless are very good right now. Demand remains very strong for both Red and Green Seedless.
GREEN ONIONS
This market is a little stronger as supplies have been less from Mexico. Pencil sizes are still the largest volume available. The quality continues to be good with no significant problems to report. Processors have had minimal problems with the raw product available.
LEAF LETTUCE
The market is softer, however there continues to be a wide ranges in pricing and availability from shipper to shipper. Issues on romaine include such defects as brown spotting, brown to red discoloration, blister and peel, brown butts, fringe burn and internal burn. Red leaf is softer in the market, as supplies have increased while demand has fallen off. The hearts continue to have twisting seen upon arrival. Green leaf is also softer in the market. Continue to expect defects on leaf items over the next couple of weeks with production from Yuma.
LETTUCE
This market is softer. The pricing gap has closed considerably compared to the previous week. Demand has fallen off. The cold weather has kept the lettuce from sizing properly which has caused weights to be less than ideal. The
weights are getting better and are averaging 38 to 40 pounds, with the head size being on the small side. Expect suppliers to be pushing lettuce this week to keep inventories clean.
MELONS
Cantaloupe: Offshore fruit supplies from Guatemala are very limited and finishing up. Honduran fruit is just getting going and will have limited supplies to start out as well. So, there will be limited supplies through the end of the month. Costa Rica got a late start on planting so have been pushed back a few weeks from their normal start and we should start seeing fruit from there by the end of this month or beginning of next month. Shipping points in Pompano Beach and Port Manatee, FL as well as Los Angeles, CA and Camden, NJ continue to receive fruit but sizes are all large (12ct and larger). The prices remain at higher levels on the large size fruit. There are still extremely limited supplies of Mexican cantaloupes crossing through the Nogales, AZ point of entry and quality is fair at best. Overall fruit quality for the offshore fruit is very good.
Honeydew: Offshore fruit is still arriving into Florida, California and New Jersey with volume supplies mainly in 5’s and 6’s. Supplies on 8 sized fruit continue to be light. Good supplies of Honeydew out of Mexico and the quality is good.
ONIONS
Demand remains steady the start of this week. All three colors (yellow, red, white) continue to be peaking on Jumbo’s and larger. Quality continues to be good. Look for the white onion market to start to show strength. Trucks are very limited. Shippers are running full days and there are ample supplies. There are good supplies available out of Colorado and Utah.
POTATOES
Retail demand is the driving force for potatoes again this week. This is helping most shippers to produce lots of cartons. Most shippers are peaking on 80ct. Market is steady. Quality is good. Both Norkotahs and Burbanks are being
packed depending on the shipper. Washington Norkotahs are going strong with good quality and availability. Washington shippers are peaking on 80ct and larger. Colorado is going strong with new crop supplies as well. Mount Vernon, Washington, has good availability on colored potatoes; product quality is excellent. North Dakota and Wisconsin have good supplies of red, yellow and white potatoes. California supplies will increase as more shippers come on board in the next couple of weeks with red, yellow and white potatoes.
SQUASH
Western Squash: Mexico’s southern growing areas are ramping up production and will have fair to good supplies over the next 2 weeks. Demand looks to stay good.
Eastern Squash: Squash market is higher on both zucchini and yellow squash, with limited availability. Florida’s cold weather has delayed both the growing and the picking of squash. If the temperatures drop to freezing, as many suspect they will, then we could be looking at quality issues going into the weekend.
STONE FRUIT
There are still good supplies of both East and West coast imported cherries available, with heavier volume in the East and good volume of the bagged and volume fill packs. Sizing is large and quality is very good. Apricots are also available from air shipments, but sizing is limited and FOB pricing is somewhat high. Other Chilean fruit including peaches and nectarines are now arriving via vessel into both East and West Coast ports. Volumes are still limited but better supplies should start to come in soon.
TOMATOES
Eastern: Tomato production is steady, with moderate to low demand. We continue to see prices slowly adjust down on round and Roma tomatoes. There are good supplies of cherry and grape tomatoes as well. Quality remains
good out of San Diego. Nogales is crossing better volume of Rounds, predominantly crossing Hot House and Roma, but is asking higher FOB’s than both Florida and San Diego. From the reports I have gathered it looks like we can expect Nogales to be going by January.
Western: Supplies in Florida continue to be moderate but we are seeing a steep price decline. The growers started getting loaded up with smaller sized fruit and had to make some serious pricing decisions to keep things moving, but there still a lack of larger sized tomatoes particularly, the 5x6’s. It looks like the market has somewhat stabilized (demand will dictate). Roma tomatoes have also stabilized but once again demand will dictate.
WATERMELON
Colder weather in the watermelon growing districts continues to slow production especially in the seeded. Supplies are still crossing mainly through Nogales, AZ. Supplies are decent on Seedless, but sizing remains to the small side. Markets remain strong for both Seeded and Seedless. Overall Watermelon quality is still very good.
VALUE ADDED
Chopped romaine continues to be a challenge for processors. Bruising continues to be reported. The shelf life is not as strong. With the cold weather, expect this item to be marginal until the weather gets better. The cauliflower raw product availability is ample to fill demand. Brown spotting on cauliflower florets, yellowing and pale color on broccoli florets will be common issues talked about with these products.
Market news is complied of information from print and the internet. Sources may include ProAct, The Produce News, The Packer, etc.
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