Market News

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January 2010
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Market News: February 24, 2010

Weather: Forecasts indicate that the Southern California region will have a 30 percent chance of rain throughout the week with otherwise cloudiness. Winds are expected today in the mid 20s, but mild for the rest of the week. In the desert region, temperatures are expected to be in the mid 60s to mid 70s with partly cloudy skies throughout the week. Winds are expected to be gusty sporadically for the entire week. No rain is in the forecast.

Thunderstorms have an eighty percent expectancy for Monday in the South Florida growing region. Temperatures are expected throughout the week in the mid 60s to mid 70s with cloudiness and strong winds expected. A cold, dry air mass behind the high pressure system currently over Florida may cause freezing temperatures to Central Florida and especially locals to the north before moving out late this week. High pressure should remain in place through the weekend bringing a gradual warming to this region by early next week.

APPLES/PEARS
Reds, Gold’s, and Granny Smith, along with most varietals, remain in short supply on smaller fruit but the larger sizes are very available. Expect the market on smaller fruit to continue to gradually increase throughout the season... Supplies will continue to get lighter until new crop starts in late summer/early fall. Demand continues to be very strong on small fruit and will remain so in comparison to supplies, while the demand for larger fruit is less along with prices. Deals remain in the larger sizes and quality is excellent on all varieties. Specialty apples including the Honeycrisp variety are still available and in adequate supply. D’Anjou pears are in excellent shape with good supplies in Washington and like the apples are mostly large. The varietal pear varieties including Bosc, Seckels, Concorde, Comice and Red Crimsons are available as well. Please consider varieties other than red apples for your food service orders that require small fruit.

ASPARAGUS
The asparagus market is steady. Supplies are lighter to start the week, especially on jumbo sizing from Mexico, but demand is light. Peru still has supplies coming into the East and West Coast. Prices are steady. The Quality of Mexican product continues to be good. California production has also started.

AVOCADO
California growers continue to slow their harvest to let fruit size up. Chilean fruit is 95% shipped and Mexico is holding steady with their production. The over all supplies remain good at this time.
Mexican Fruit: Mexico still represents the bulk of the avocados on the market. Rains last week did slow harvest, but supplies still good. They continue to have excellent quality.
California Fruit: Shippers remain with limited harvest into the first week of March to gain size. With the rains and warmer weather, size may begin soon.
Chilean Fruit: Chile is winding down quickly as end of their season is near. Quality remains very good.

BELL PEPPERS
Western Green Bells and Colored Bells: Bell peppers continue to get tighter and will continue so for the near future. Bell pepper supplies from Mexico look to improve as we move into March. East coast demand remains the driving force on the market. The spring crop for eastern bells looks to start in April.
Eastern Bells: Almost all of Florida’s pepper supplies are currently coming out of Mexico. Long stretches of below average temps, rains and wind have all but depleted local supplies. As Florida begins to get back into pepper by the end of the week and the prices rise in Nogales, we will see the Florida market begin to gradually ease up. Quality has improved from poor to fair.

BERRIES
Strawberries: Demand still exceeds supplies right now on strawberries due to the recent weather we have had in both Southern California and Florida. Southern California received some light rain over the weekend. The forecast is calling for more rain as this week moves on. Depending on the severity of these approaching storms, estimates and harvest could be affected. Florida received some nice weather over the weekend and the forecast is for nice weather most of this week. This should bring on a push of fruit late this week. Market is steady with good to fair quality coming out of California.
Raspberries: Supplies are still limited with Driscoll being the main supplier. Quality is being reported as good. Market is firm but steady
Blackberries: Blackberry supplies are very limited with fair quality and firm market.
Blueberries: Supplies are good with a weaker market on both coasts. Quality is improving.

BROCCOLI
This market is steady. Supplies continue to be good with most suppliers on bunched and crown product. The quality is good, coming out of Santa Maria, Yuma, and Scottsdale. There is some product still being harvested in Salinas and loading is also occurring in Gilroy if desired. Gilroy production is available if trucks are in the area.

CARROTS
California carrots are coming out of Bakersfield for the next 3-4 weeks with good supplies. Yield and quality are good and there should not be any gaps for the next couple of months.

CAULIFLOWER
This commodity unlike the previous week is steady. Supplies are light to moderate but demand is simply down. Suppliers realize to make a large price increase would stop any current movement. Brown and black spotting as well as discoloration continues to be an issue upon arrival and this will likely continue lightly throughout the week.

CELERY
This market is steady. Production has evened out on large and small sizing. This is in contrast to past weeks where large sizing was more prevalent. There continues to be a few shippers of celery in Yuma. Oxnard continues to have good supplies available. The quality continues to be good from all the growing regions. Expect supplies to be ample to fill all orders for the week.

CITRUS
Lemons: Supplies are good on 115’s and larger, with 165’s and especially 200’s are less available. Quality is very good.
Limes: Rains in Mexico continue to delay harvest. Expect some tighter supplies this week. Sizes are peaking on 175’s thru 200’s.
Oranges: Demand remains steady. 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 fair to lighter supplies. Some growers are gaping as they transition between old and new fields over the next couple of weeks.
Eastern Cucumbers: The off shore supplies will continue to steadily trickle in. A rising market in Nogales will keep the market strong. Quality is fair

GRAPES
Reds and Greens are still extremely limited this week and next as Chile is not sending as much fruit out as was expected. The flames are finishing up and Crimsons will be starting. Good availability on the seeded Red Globe with excellent quality. Black seedless with good quality and supplies.

GREEN ONIONS
This market continues to be stable as supplies have steadily increased out of Mexico. Demand has definitely fallen off. Pencil sizes continue to have the largest availability. The quality continues to be good with no significant problems to report. Processors continue to have only minimal problems with the raw product available.

LEAF LETTUCE
Aside from a few suppliers, this market has remained overall, flat. Shippers continue to look for volume orders and are willing to flex pricing to get the order. Romaine and romaine hearts continue to show some blister and epidermal peel from the cold temperature experienced last month out of Yuma. Product is plentiful.

LETTUCE
The lettuce market is stable. Suppliers have attempted to raise the pricing on this commodity, but demand does not warrant an increase. There have been some issues of pink ribbing, discoloration, and mechanical damage seen upon arrival. This again is related to the past rains in the desert region. Growers have started to pass on fields with some age to the product, and have moved on to new lettuce. Although the weights have been lower, 3-4 pounds, the quality has been much cleaner.

MELONS
Cantaloupe: Honduran fruit is still limited and selling out for the week. Getting orders on the books early will help to insure availability. It looks like the larger fruit will begin to have better availability again with small fruit more snug. Shipping points in Pompano Beach and Port Manatee, FL as well as Los Angeles, CA and Camden, NJ continue to receive 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 still mainly in 5’s and 6’s. The vessels late arrivals are hampering availability so getting orders on the books early is a must. All sizes are limited at the end of this week out of Florida and California. Good supplies of honeydew out of Mexico and the quality is good to fair.

ONIONS
Idaho/Oregon yellows are way up! Demand is very strong and the supplies are getting lower as we near the end of the storage deal. To make matters worse Mexico is consuming most of its own onion crop where they normally send a large portion to the U.S., so expect supplies to stay tight for at least the next couple weeks if not the next month. Mexico is still short of whites and until they have enough to satisfy their own demand they will keep coming to the U.S. to buy yellows as a substitute. A strong Asian demand is also taking much of Washington’s yellows. Looking even farther forward the Texas crop has been hampered by cool weather and rain so it could be late. The sizing is still heavy to jumbos and larger while mediums are still very short. Reds are up to because the Washington suppliers are running
low. We recommend continuing to go heavier on reds as the market will only continue to rise until Mexican onions start to cross sometime between early & mid-March. The white onion market is still in a demand exceeds supplies situation as Mexican demand is strong and the market continues to rise. White storage supplies are low and a few packers are done for the season so expect the high market to stay until Mexican volume improves.

POTATOES
Idaho potatoes remain steady with light demand. Most shippers are still hungry for business and will deal on certain sizes/packs. Idaho continues to peak between 70 and 90 counts. Most packers are done with the Norkotahs variety so they are getting a smaller overall size profile on cartons. Some shippers are higher on their larger count Burbanks this week. Burbanks and westerns are the main varieties available right now and the quality is good on both. Washington is still getting excellent quality and is peaking on 60’s. Wisconsin & Colorado shippers are also packing Norkotahs and have a steady market with light demand, but are heavier to 70 & 80 count. Mount Vernon, Washington continues with excellent quality on reds and Yukon-gold’s but the supplies are getting really low. Some shippers are done with Yukon’s. North Dakota has good supplies of red & yellow potatoes with few whites. Wisconsin is about done with both reds and yellows. California packers have good supplies of reds, whites, and yellows for the next two weeks but will then be done with their own product. Florida is just starting but supplies are light due to the freezes earlier this year.

SQUASH
Western Squash: Mexico production has slowed due to previous rains and current cool weather. The cooler wet weather will slow and lighten production over the next couple of weeks. Yellow squash remains very short.
Eastern Squash: Most Florida shippers are bringing squash in out of the west just to try to cover orders. Yellow squash continues to be extremely hard to come by and poor in quality. Strong winds throughout South and Central Florida will result in quality issues with their domestic supplies for a few more weeks.

STONE FRUIT
Chilean peaches are a little more limited but there is product available. Demand still exceeds supply on the nectarines. Both red and black plums are limited but available.

TOMATOES
Eastern: Florida continues to be a non-factor in the tomato supply chain. There has been significant crop loss from the early freeze and supplies out of Florida will be down and won’t rebound probably until spring. 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 and shorter shelf life, but for the most part growers are doing a good job packing decent fruit.
Western: Supplies out of both Nogales and San Diego are inconsistent and down significantly due to recent past rain in the Mexican growing areas. This has disrupted just about all production on all tomato varieties. Pricing has increased slightly and may continue to do so depending how production rebounds. Roma tomatoes, Grape, Cherry and mostly Gas rounds are in short supply. Shippers are still behind trying to catch up on previously cut orders. Weather reports have been mild with no major rain or disruptions but the supply chain is dry as a bone.

WATERMELON
Limited supplies still on seeded watermelon with better supplies of seedless. Quality on the Mexican fruit is fair at best. The mini seedless are in better supply and quality is good the market is on the rise.

VALUE ADDED
On the value added front, chopped romaine and romaine blended items continue to
experience some brown and red discoloration on finished product. Suppliers are doing their best to use the best raw material available to avoid credits. The processed cauliflower has had a few issues on brown and black spotting.
Again, processors are using the best product available. Expect to see some red to pink discoloration on shred and chopped lettuce items as well.

Market News: February 16, 2010

Weather: The Yuma growing regions will have warmer temperatures throughout the week. Low 80s are expected throughout the week with evenings ranging from low to mid 50s. The rain has subsided and sunshine is in the forecasts throughout the week. The winds are expected to be light, anywhere from 6-10 mph. The Florida weather pattern looks to be sporadic. Throughout this week, the growing regions will experience partly cloudy, breezy and sunny days at different times. There is a 20 percent chance of rain on Monday, but no rain is expected for the rest of the week. A low pressure system continues to push through Florida causing weather fluctuations daily. Low temperatures will range from the low to mid 50s. The Santa Maria growing region will have temperatures in the low high 60s to low 70s. Patchy fog and cloudiness will be seen throughout the week. A twenty percent chance of rain is forecasted for Friday and throughout the weekend. In essence, temperatures look to be mild through at least the middle of this week.

APPLES/PEARS
Reds, Gold’s, and Granny-smith, along with most varietal apples, remain in short supply on smaller fruit. The mid to larger sizes are much more abundant in most varieties. The market will continue to increase gradually on the smaller fruit throughout the season. And unfortunately this will be a season-long problem. Each week the supplies will get lighter causing the market to get stronger, until new crop starts in late summer/early fall. Demand continues to be very strong on small fruit and will remain so in comparison to the available supply, while the demand for larger fruit is less. Deals remain in the larger sizes and quality is excellent on all varieties. Specialty apples including the Honey Crisp variety are still available and in adequate supply. D’Anjou pears are in excellent shape with good supplies in Washington. The varietal pear varieties including Bosc, Seckels, Concorde, Comice and Red Crimsons are available also. Please consider varieties other than red apples for your food service orders that require small fruit.

ASPARAGUS
The asparagus market is softer... Supplies are better on standard sizing, and jumbo production has increased from product coming out of Mexico. Peru still has supplies coming into the East and West Coast. Prices are lower on all sizes. The Quality of Mexican product continues to be good.

AVOCADO
California growers will continue to slow their harvest to let fruit size up. The over all supplies remain good at this time. Demand is good.
Mexican Fruit: Mexico still represents about 2/3 of the market at this time. They continue to have excellent quality.
California Fruit: Shippers will remain with limited harvest over the next couple of weeks as they let the fruit size. Expect harvest to lag until March.
Chilean Fruit: Chilean fruit arrivals will be fewer and fewer as we move toward March and the end of their season. Quality remains very good.

BELL PEPPERS
Western Green Bells and Colored Bells: Bell peppers will remain snug for the next few days. Supplies are expected to improve for the month as weather clears and warms up.
Eastern Bells: Bell peppers supplies have tightened back up as growers continue to salvage what they can out of the freeze ravaged fields. Strong winds and cool weather have lead to an even tighter market and quality issues in the coming weeks.

BERRIES
Strawberries: Strawberry supplies out of California are still limited the start of this week but should start to increase the middle of the week. Weather over the weekend was prefect, sunny high 70’s. The next chance of rain is Saturday. Market is high but steady. Quality is improving each day. The main issue still showing up in the packs are 10% to 20% white shoulder. Florida supplies are still very limited this week. Market is firm with fair to good quality. Mexico supplies coming into Texas are also limited and quality is just fair. Market is active.
Raspberries: Supplies are still limited with Driscoll being the main supplier. Quality is being reported as good. Market is firm but steady
Blackberries: Blackberry supplies are still limited with fair quality and firm market.
Blueberries: Supplies are still limited the start of this week. Market is steady. Quality is improving.

BROCCOLI
This market is flat. Supplies continue to be strong with most suppliers on bunched and crown product. Shippers are looking to move volume orders to begin this week and they have come out very aggressive on bunch and crown product. Supplies should be strong throughout the week. The quality is good, coming out of Santa Maria, Yuma, and Scottsdale. There is some product still being harvested in Salinas and loading is also occurring in Gilroy if desired. Gilroy production will continue through the month of March.

CARROTS
California carrots are coming out of Bakersfield for the next 3-4 weeks with good supplies. Yield and quality are good and there should not be any gaps for the next couple of months.

CAULIFLOWER
This commodity is stable. Some suppliers are indicating they will be lighter in supplies, especially on twelve counts. Brown and black spotting as well as discoloration continues to be an issue upon arrival and this will likely continue lightly throughout the week.

CELERY
This market is stable. Production continues to stronger on large sizing with most suppliers. There are a few shippers with product in Yuma, if Oxnard and Santa Maria are not desired. The best deal is on 24 count and deals can be made on volume orders. The quality continues to be good from all the growing regions.

CITRUS
Lemons: Supplies are good on 115’s and larger, with 165’s and especially 200’s becoming tight. Quality is very good.
Limes: Rains in Mexico have lightened supplies this week, and are very tight. Sizes are peaking on 200’s and 230’s.
Oranges: Demand remains steady. 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 fair to lighter supplies. Some growers have begun
to transition between old and new fields that have created some gaps in supply...
Eastern Cucumbers: The off shore supplies will continue to steadily trickle in. A rising market in Nogales will keep the market strong. Quality is fair.

GRAPES
Red and green are extremely limited this week and next week as Chile is not sending as much fruit out as was expected. Good availability on the seeded Red Globe with excellent quality. Black seedless with good quality and supplies.

GREEN ONIONS
This market is stable as supplies have steadily increased out of Mexico. Demand has definitely fallen off. Pencil sizes continue to have the largest availability. The quality continues to be good with no significant problems to report. Processors continue to have only minimal problems with the raw product available.

LEAF LETTUCE
The leaf market is flat. Romaine and romaine hearts continue to show some blister and epidermal peel from the cold temperature experienced last month out of Yuma. Product is plentiful. Green and red leaf is also strong and deals can be made on all leaf items.

LETTUCE
The lettuce market is flat and some suppliers are starting the week with sharp, competitive pricing. There have been some isolated issues of pink ribbing and mechanical damage seen upon arrival. This is related to the past rains in the desert region. The weights continue to be reported at 45-48 pounds. Suppliers are
expecting stronger production numbers this week in Yuma. Suppliers continue to push bin lettuce, and deals can be made.

MELONS
Cantaloupe: Honduran fruit is limited and now selling out for the week by the end of day on Monday. Getting orders on the books early will help to insure availability. Small fruit seems to have better availability with 9’s and larger now limited. 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. 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. The vessels late arrivals are hampering availability so getting orders on the books early is a must. All sizes are limited at the end of this week out of Florida and California. Good supplies of honeydew out of Mexico and the quality is good to fair.

ONIONS
Idaho/Oregon yellow onions are up along with demand. Mexico is short of whites so they are buying yellows to substitute. Asian demand is strong from Washington too so as we approach the end to the storage deal supplies will get much lighter. Quality is still very nice and sizing remains heavy to jumbos and larger. Mediums are still very short and they are also higher. Reds are up to because the Washington suppliers are running low. We recommend continuing to go heavier on reds as the market will only continue to rise until Mexican onions start to cross sometime around March 1st. The white onion market is still in a demand exceeds supplies situation as Mexican demand is strong and the market is up. White storage supplies are low and A few of the packers are done for the season so expect the high market to stay until Mexican volume improves.

POTATOES
Idaho potatoes remain steady with light demand. Most shippers are still hungry for business and will deal on certain sizes/packs. They continue to peak between 70 and 90 counts. Most packers have finished with the Norkotahs variety so expect a smaller overall size profile on cartons. Burbanks and Westerns are the main varieties available right now and the quality is still good on both. Washington Norkotahs are going strong with good quality and availability but also light demand. Washington shippers are peaking on 60 counts and larger and that market is also steady. Wisconsin & Colorado shippers are packing Norkotahs and have a steady market with light demand. They are heavier to 70 & 80 count and the quality is good. Mount Vernon, Washington continues with excellent quality on reds and Yukon-gold’s but the supplies are getting low. Some shippers are done with Yukon’s. They are done with whites for the season. North Dakota has good supplies of red & yellow potatoes with few whites. Wisconsin is about done with both reds and yellows.
California packers have good supplies of reds, whites, and yellows for the next two weeks but will then be done with their own product. Florida is just starting but supplies are light due to the freezes earlier this year.

SQUASH
Western Squash: Mexico production has slowed due to previous rains and current cool weather. The cooler wet weather will slow and lighten production over the next couple of weeks. Yellow squash remains very short.
Eastern Squash: Most Florida shippers are bringing squash in out of the West just to try to cover orders. Yellow squash continues to be extremely hard to come by and poor in quality. Strong winds throughout South and Central Florida will result in quality issues with their domestic supplies for several more weeks.

STONE FRUIT
Chilean peaches are a little more limited but there is product available. Demand still exceeds supply on the Nectarines. Both red and black Plums are limited but available.

TOMATOES
Eastern: Florida continues to be a non-factor in the tomato supply chain. There has been significant crop loss from the early freeze and supplies out of Florida will be down and won’t rebound probably until spring. 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 and shorter shelf life, but for the most part growers are doing a good job packing decent fruit.
Western: Supplies out of both Nogales and San Diego are inconsistent due to recent past rain in the Mexican growing areas. This has disrupted just about all production on all tomato varieties. Pricing has increased slightly and may continue to do so depending how production rebounds. Roma tomatoes, Grape, Cherry and mostly gas rounds are in short supply. There have been some updates indicating that there will be a good shot of fruit crossing Wednesday, but shippers will still be behind due to them catching up on previously cut orders. Weather reports have been mild with no major rain or disruptions.

WATERMELON
Limited supplies still on seeded watermelon with better supplies of seedless. Quality on the Mexican fruit is fair at best. The mini seedless are in better supply and quality is good.

VALUE ADDED
Things have not changed on the value-added items. 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 processed cauliflower has had a few issues on brown and black spotting. Again, processors are using the best product available.

Market News: February 9, 2010

Weather: The West Coast is bracing for another couple of Pacific low pressure storm systems set to impact California this week. Rainfall totals in Southern California could reach the 1/2 to 1 inch range with up to ¼ inch possible in the desert locals as this first system moves east. The end result will be cool, breezy conditions and a chance (20%) of rain for the Western growing region this week. Another system set for late this week looks to remain in Central California and north in latest forecasts. A slight warm up is expected late in the week but overall temperatures will remain 5-10
degrees below seasonal norms through the week. Low pressure pushing through Florida will bring a chance of showers to the region before moving out mid week. High pressure behind this cold front will usher in cooler temperatures and breezy conditions through the end of the 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. Another low pressure system enters the mix with a chance of showers late this week.

APPLES/PEARS
Red delicious, gold delicious and granny-smith, along with most all varietal apples, remain in short supply on small sized fruit. The larger sizes are abundant. The market will continue to increase gradually on the smaller fruit
throughout the season. This will be a seasonlong dilemma and each week the supplies will get lighter causing market pressure until the apple harvest commences in the late summer. 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 adequate supply. D’Anjou pears are in excellent shape with good supplies in Washington. Bartlett pears are finished for the season. Varietal pear varieties are available including Bosc, Seckel, Concorde, Comice and Red Crimsons. Please consider varieties other than red apples for your food service orders that require small fruit.

ASPARAGUS
The asparagus market has softened. Supplies are good on standard sizing, and jumbo production has increased from product coming out of Mexico. 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
Rain in Mexico and southern California slowed harvest last week. California growers will continue to slow their harvest to let fruit size up. The over all supplies remain good at this time. Demand is good.
Mexican Fruit: Mexico still represents about 2/3 of the market at this time. They continue to have excellent quality.
California Fruit: Shippers will remain with limited harvest over the next couple of week as they let the fruit size.
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: Rain in Mexico has halted harvest of green bells for many growers. Supplies will remain lighter through the week with cooler weather in the growing areas. Colored bell supplies from Mexico also remain lighter.
Eastern Bells: Off grade peppers are still hard to come by but the market appears to be holding steady. The end of the week will see more limited supplies and a higher market. Quality is fair.

BERRIES
Strawberries: California Strawberry growing areas received 1 to 2 ½ inches of rain over the weekend. As a result, harvest volumes will be negatively impacted again this week. All growers will be going into their fields stripping damaged fruit. Quality will remain problematic with white shoulder, bruise, pin rot, mold and water damage likely to be prevalent as fields recover. Rain is forecasted to start again Tuesday/Wednesday of this week and could further result in a decreased harvest and availability. The Valentine’s Day pull for strawberries is in full swing. The main issue still showing up in the packs are 10% to 20% white shoulder. Florida has started hitting a gap from the freeze they had a month ago. Volumes are very limited out of this area and will be for the next two weeks. Market has firmed up out of Florida. Mexico received rain last week which has affect supplies crossing the boarder. Market is active.
Raspberries: Supplies and demand are steady the start of this week. Quality is being reported as good. Driscoll is the main supplier at this time of the year. Market is steady
Blackberries: Blackberry supplies are still limited with fair quality and firm market.
Blueberries: Blueberries are hitting a gap due to cool and rainy weather that Chile received the month of January. Quality of the blueberries over the last few weeks has been hit and miss and the growers are clamping down on the specs to make sure all fruit that goes out is good. The growers expect to rebound a little but not back up to volumes we had in the past few months. This week will be the lightest arrivals, and then we should see the slight rebound the week of February 15th. Market is very active with limited availability.

BROCCOLI
The market has softened on this commodity. Supplies continue to be strong with most suppliers on bunched and crown product. Shippers are looking to move volume orders to begin this week and they have come out 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 still being harvested in Salinas and loading is also occurring in Gilroy 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 commodity is steady, however it will likely pick up towards the end of the week. Some suppliers are indicating they will be lighter in supplies, especially on twelve counts. Brown and black spotting as well as discoloration
continues to be an issue upon arrival and this will likely continue lightly throughout the week. Suppliers are working to pack spot free product, but some will be seen, so please be aware. The past cold weather and rain has caused this.

CELERY
This market is softer. Production continues to stronger on large sizing. The gap in pricing is minimal now as suppliers have become much more competitive in pricing, especially on large sizing. There are a few shippers having product in Yuma if Oxnard and Santa Maria is not desired. The best deal is on 24 count and deals can be made on volume orders.

CITRUS
Lemons: Supplies are good on 115’s and larger, with 165’s and especially 200’s becoming tight. Quality is very good.
Limes: Rains in Mexico have lightened supplies this week, and are very tight. Sizes are peaking on 200’s and 230’s.
Oranges: Demand remains steady. 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 fair supplies and looks to hold this way for the next 7 to 10 days.
Eastern Cucumbers: The off shore supplies are gradually increasing but quality is still marginal. The market rising in Nogales will keep demand strong out of Florida, thereby holding the market steady.

GRAPES
The snow storms in the East have limited the vessels off loading in the Philly area. Reds and Greens will be limited this week on the East as another storm is set to come in Tuesday/Wednesday. Thompsons and Sugarones are still in good supplies with product peeking to the medium and large size. There will be good supplies for the Valentines Day pull on red seedless. Good availability on the seeded Red Globe with excellent quality. Black seedless with better supplies and very good quality.

GREEN ONIONS
This market is softer as supplies have steadily increased out of Mexico. Demand has definitely fallen off. Pencil sizes continue to have the largest availability. The quality continues to be good with no significant problems to report. Processors continue to have only minimal problems with the raw product available.

LEAF LETTUCE
The leaf market continues to be steady. Red leaf continues to demand a higher price with some suppliers while others have lowered pricing. Romaine and romaine hearts continue to show some 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.

LETTUCE
The lettuce market is steady to start the week. There continues to be a variance in pricing by 1-2 dollars with different shippers. The quality has been good with weights in the 45-48 pound range. Florida has started production also.
Suppliers are expecting stronger production numbers this week in Yuma. Suppliers continue to push bin lettuce, and deals can be made.

MELONS
Cantaloupe: Honduran fruit is limited and selling out by the end of each week. Getting orders on the books early will help to insure availability. Small fruit 15’s and smaller are still extremely limited. 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. 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. Product is limited so getting orders in early will help to insure availability. All sizes are limited at the end of this week out of Florida with better supplies in California. Good supplies of honeydew out of Mexico and the quality is fair.

ONIONS
The Idaho/Oregon yellow onions are slightly lower again and the demand remains light. The export demand remains but it is down and isn’t affecting the domestic market. Quality is still very nice and sizing remains heavy to
jumbos and larger. Mediums are very short. Reds are steady however we are nearing the end of the storage deal for most packers, so expect a stronger market in the near future. Continue to go heavier on reds. The white onion market is still in a demand exceeds supplies situation as Mexican demand is strong, but the market is slightly lower.

POTATOES
Idaho potatoes remain steady with light demand. Most shippers are still hungry for business and continue to peak between 70 and 90 counts. There are deals on certain sizes depending on the shipper and variety. Most packers have finished with the Norkotahs variety so expect a smaller size profile overall. Burbanks and westerns are the two main varieties available now. Quality is good all three varieties. Washington Norkotahs are going strong with good quality and availability but also light demand. Washington shippers are peaking on 60ct and larger. Colorado is going strong steady supplies and quality, with light demand. Colorado is heaviest to 70 & 80 count. Mount Vernon, Washington has good availability and excellent quality on red and Yukon-gold potatoes, while they are done with whites. North Dakota and Wisconsin have good supplies of red & yellow potatoes with few whites. Some California packers have good supplies of reds, whites, and yellows while some are experiencing low pack-outs on the Yukon’s.

SQUASH
Western Squash: Mexico production has slow due to rains and cool weather. The cooler wet weather will slow and lighten production over the next couple of weeks. Yellow squash remains very short.
Eastern Squash: Domestic supplies of squash in Florida have been all but wiped out by the weekend freeze. Most Florida shippers are bringing yellow squash in out of the West just to try to cover. Yellow squash is extremely difficult to come by, demand is high and the quality is poor.

STONE FRUIT
Chilean peaches are still in good supply with very good quality. Demand still exceeds supply on the Nectarines. Both red and black Plums are limited but available.

TOMATOES
Eastern: There has been significant crop loss and supplies out of Florida will be down and won’t rebound probably until spring. 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: Supplies are good and what demand is there is not overbearing or exceeding supplies. There has surprisingly enough been a price decrease out of Nogales and San Diego. They are both certainly loaded on fruit with color, which is the primary reason for 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 has become a little active probably due to some light rain that passed through northern Mexico. The tight fruit is currently cherry tomatoes.

WATERMELON
Limited supplies still on seeded watermelon with better supplies of seedless. Quality on the Mexican fruit is fair at best. The mini seedless are in better supply and quality is good.

VALUE ADDED
Things have not changed on the value-added items. 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: February 2, 2010

STRAWBERRIES: The rain California Strawberry fields received 2nd and 3rd weeks in January has put Strawberry availability in question for Valentine’s Day

Weather: The West Coast will have partly cloudy skies in the daytime with a 20 percent chance of rain for the rest of the week. Over the next few weeks, we will see the effects of the rainfall on row crop items. Daytime temperatures in the growing regions are expected to be in the mid 50s on a high with lows ranging in the mid 40s. Winds are expected to be to be on the light side. Yuma, Arizona will have a chance of showers on Wednesday. For all other days, forecasts call for partly sunny skies with temperatures in the low 70s and lows reaching the low 50s. Winds are expected to be moderate in the growing regions South Florida is expecting rainfall on Monday and Tuesday. The following days have mostly sunshine in the forecast until Friday where more rain is expected. Temperatures will be in the mid-70s and there will be some windy conditions in isolated areas. The weekend calls for sunshine by Sunday.

APPLES/PEARS
Red Delicious, Gold Delicious and Granny Smith, along with most all varietal apples, remain in short supply on small sized fruit. The market will continue to increase gradually on the small sized Granny Smith, Red and Gold Delicious Apples throughout the season. This will be a season long dilemma and each week the supplies will get lighter causing market pressure until the apple harvest commences in the late summer. 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 adequate supply. D’Anjou Pears are in excellent shape with good supplies in Washington. Bartlett pears are in finished for the season. There are varietal 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. However, California fruit harvest was slowed by the recent rains. The over all supplies remain good. Demand is good.
Mexican Fruit: Mexico still represents about 2/3 of the market at this time. They continue to have excellent quality and good steady supplies.
California Fruit: Shippers have are harvesting again, but picking will back off again as rains come back at the end of the week.
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’ of green bells coming in from Mexico remains lighter in volume, and looks to remain so through the week. Colored bell supplies from Mexico have started dropping off as growers are at the end of their initial flush in production.
Eastern Bells: Supplies of peppers in Florida are getting scarce again. There is nothing left in the fields to pick, the demand is constant and Nogales prices are rising rapidly. Going into the weekend, there will be little to no off grade pepper in Florida to ship. A sharp spike in the pepper market is expected for the weekend with another spike on Monday. Quality is fair.

BERRIES
Strawberries: The rain California Strawberry fields received 2nd and 3rd weeks in January has put Strawberry availability in question for Valentine’s Day. Since January 18th Oxnard and the rest of Southern California growing regions received up to six inches of rain, and at times hail, causing widespread damage to ripened strawberries in all major growing regions. As a result, harvest volumes in all Southern California growing areas were negatively impacted. All growers have gone into their fields and stripped off all ripe, white and damaged fruit causing the growers to basically start the season all over. They lost a huge percent of what was going to be harvested for stems. That being said, there is a very good chance that the majority of the fruit that comes out of the fields will be packed in 8/1 clamshells the next two weeks. Pint and stem packs will be very limited. Please make sure your customers are aware and updated on the strawberry situation. Rain is forecasted to start again Thursday/Friday of this week and could further result in a decreased harvest and availability. Florida has started hitting a gap from the freeze they had a month ago. Volumes are very limited out of this area and will be for the next two weeks. Market is very active. Mexico is getting rain today which will impact fruit that would be hitting the US Wednesday into the weekend. Look for their harvest numbers to go backwards as this week moves on. Market is active.

Raspberries: Supplies are slowly increasing making the market slightly weaker the start of this week. Quality is being reported as good. Driscoll is the main supplier at this time of the year.
Blackberries: Blackberry supplies are limited with fair quality and firms market the start of this week.
Blueberries: Supplies out of Chile are down 20 to 30% due to the freeze they had a few months ago. Market is very active. Quality is good to fair depending on the lot. Most packs coming into the U.S. are now 6oz and 4oz with a few pints still being packed. Availably is limited on all pack sizes.

BROCCOLI
The market is steady. 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.

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. Demand is light. Brown and black spotting as well as discoloration continues to be seen sporadically upon arrivals on this commodity. Past cold weather is the cause of this defect. Supplies will be good
throughout the week.

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 best deal is on 24 count and deals can be made on volume orders.

CITRUS
Lemons: Supplies are good on 115’s and larger, with 165’s and especially 200’s becoming tight. Quality is very good
Limes: Rains in Mexico have lightened supplies this week. Sizes are peaking on 200’s and 230’s.
Oranges: Demand remains steady. Rain forecast for this weekend 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 steady supplies and looks to hold this way for the next 7 to 10 days.
Eastern Cucumbers: The off shore supplies are gradually increasing but quality and demand have kept the market from
declining. Quality is fair.

GRAPES
Chilean flames have good availability but product continues to run 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. Good availability on the seeded Red Globe with excellent quality. Black seedless with better 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
The leaf market is 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 some 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.

LETTUCE
The lettuce market is softer, with a variance in pricing by 2-3 dollars with different shippers. 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 in Yuma. Rain is not expected for the rest of the week. Suppliers are looking to move bin lettuce, and deals can be made.

MELONS
Cantaloupe: Honduran fruit is limited and by the end of the week should be sold out. Getting orders on the books early will help to ensure availability. Small fruit 15’s and smaller are still extremely limited. 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. 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. All sizes will be limited this week out of Florida with better supplies in California. Good supplies of honeydew out of Mexico and the quality is good.

ONIONS
The Idaho/Oregon yellow onion market is steady to lower with light demand. The export demand remains but time will tell how it affects the domestic pricing. For now it is lower and not having an affect. Quality is still very nice and sizing remains heavy to jumbos and larger. Reds are steady however we are nearing the end of the storage deal for most packers so expect a stronger market in the near future. 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.

POTATOES
The Idaho potato market is steady with light demand. Most shippers are hungry for business and peaking between 70 and 90 counts depending on the variety. Quality is good with a few shippers reporting some light peepers showing up in their storages. The norkotah, western, and Burbank varieties are being packed in Idaho. Washington Norkotahs are going strong with good quality and availability but also light demand. Washington shippers are peaking on 60ct and larger. Colorado is going strong steady supplies and quality, with light demand. Colorado is heaviest to 70 & 80 count. Mount Vernon, Washington has good availability and excellent quality on red and Yukon-gold potatoes, while they are done with whites. North Dakota and Wisconsin have good supplies of red & yellow potatoes with few whites. Some California packers have good supplies of reds, whites, and yellows while some are experiencing low pack-outs on the Yukon’s.

SQUASH
Western Squash: Yellow squash remains very short with no increase in volume until mid February. Italian supplies are good, but expect to lighten over the next 2 weeks.
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
Chilean peaches should be in good supply for the next few weeks. Demand still exceeds supply on the Nectarines. Plums are limited but available.

TOMATOES
Eastern: The temperatures in Florida have stabilized but remain cooler than normal (but not freezing) and will continue into this week for the southern growing areas with a high of around mid 60’s to low 70’s. The damage the frost caused is becoming a bit clearer as growers have figured out that they will or will not get another harvest off the 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 has become a little active probably due to some light rain that passed through northern Mexico. The tight fruit is cherry tomatoes.

WATERMELON
There is very little fruit coming in from Mexico and offshore sources. 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. Quality on the Mexican fruit is fair at best. The mini seedless are in better supply and quality is good.

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.