October 3rd, 2012
We are expecting freight rates to
increase upwards of 20 percent in the next 30 to 45 days as the holiday season
approaches!
POTATOES
Burbank
potato production has begun in Idaho. Expect supplies to be sporadic as some Idaho
packers will bounce back and forth between Burbank’s and Norkotah’s for the
next couple of months. Be aware you will now see a split market between the two
varieties, however the difference may not be as pronounced as it normally would
be due to excessive supplies of both varieties. Overall
Russet potato pricing is holding steady at a very low level, while demand
remains on the slow side. Quality has been good on both varieties.
Red
and yellow potatoes out of Idaho are now available, heavy to the larger sizes
with good color. Yellow
potato
supplies will be very limited over the next two weeks as production is just
beginning. Western
Idaho transportation remains
difficult with higher freight being reflective of the truck shortage.
With
red potatoes North Dakota growers have plenty on hand, but demand is light.
Wisconsin growers have average demand, and report that supplies will
continue to be tight through the end of October. Idaho operations began
packing last week. Washington growers report that they are having average
demand and good quality red potatoes. Colorado growers are currently
shipping off the field; however, harvest has been hampered by rain.
Additionally, Colorado growers appear to have reduced the amount red and yellow
potatoes produced versus a year ago.
LETTUCE
Supply and quality are in good shape on pretty
much everything out of the Salinas Valley currently. Markets are have
come down from last week. We have had very warm temps over the last four
days, 90-95 in Salinas which is about 15 degrees above normal. It is
cooling off today and will continue to cool off into next week. Our field
inspectors are not seeing any quality issues at this time. We are
expecting iceberg to be in good supplies for the next couple of weeks.
Harvesting in Huron will began in the next 2 weeks. Romaine is very similar to
iceberg, with good supplies for the next few weeks. We are seeing demand on
Romaine increase as local product is finishing and that demand is being shifted
to the west. With the higher temperature please be aware that there might
be some tip burn on the product. Green and red leaf lettuces are both in good
supplies and product is weighing in around 24 pounds, which is normal. Butter
leaf is a little light in supplies this week and the product is also light in
weight.
ONIONS
The yellow onion market
is stable on all varieties and sizes and their quality is excellent. Overall,
harvest in the Northwest is wrapping up, and most onions being harvested are
going directly into storage. There is speculation
that after harvest wraps up, there will be less pressure to move onions,
leading to price increases. The red onion market is currently steady,
but will see price drop in the next few weeks as more supplies enter the market
out of Washington. Quality on all three colors has been excellent, and should
only get better in the coming weeks.
TOMATOES
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The tomato market continues to be weak as a result of slack
demand. Several Eastern growing regions
are cleaning up as harvesting winds down, with quality issues being reported. We expect Quincy, FL to begin harvesting next
week. That growing area has experienced a lot of rain over the past 1 ½ months
so quality might be an issue.
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California continues to be the market maker for round
tomatoes and will continue to be until the central and southern Florida crops
begin to be harvested which will be around the 1st of November.
Grape tomatoes continue to be plentiful this week as they are being harvested
in the East, West and Mexico. The roma
supply continues to be practically non-existent in the East with most volume
coming from Mexico.
Vegetables
CUCUMBERS
Western Markets: This market is flat. A few growers out of Mexico have started in
with fruit crossing into Nogales.
Eastern Markets: Georgia
product is flooding the market; prices are about as low as they can go. Michigan is slowing down with cooler
weather, but it is not enough to impact the market. Quality is good in all areas.
EGGPLANT
Western Markets: The Market is steady. The Central Valley is lighter in supplies but
Baja is picking up the slack.
Eastern
Markets: New crop out of Georgia continues to have
excellent quality; demand is steady which is keeping the markets flat.
BELL PEPPERS
Western Markets: Green
bell pepper supplies from California continue to be light at this time. The quality is good to excellent. Some growers
are starting to wind down for the season.
Eastern
Markets: This market continues to be flat. Michigan is still going and now Georgia has
entered the market.
SQUASH
Western Markets: Santa Maria will continue with
supplies for about another. Fresno will
increase in about 7-10 days, and Nogales has started in a light way.
Eastern Markets: The squash
market is stable. Eastern squash production is now focused around Georgia, but
Michigan continues to have product available.
No quality issues to report.
BROCCOLI /
CAULIFLOWER
The
market for both broccoli and cauliflower is relatively strong and steady. This is similar to what we saw last week,
supplies are on the light side and quality, especially on Cauliflower, is fair
at best.
CARROTS
Carrot’s
availability and quality is good. With
warmer weather, sizing is good as well.
CELERY
Salinas and Santa Maria are the primary shipping
locations. The supply is steady out of
both areas. The quality is good. Prices and demand are anticipated to decrease
as the week progresses. Michigan is
winding down and any cold weather could hasten the end of their season.
GREEN ONIONS
This market has settled.
Demand continues to be steady.
Pencil onions are available and jumbo product has loosened up a
bit. Look for this to continue as new
growing regions come on throughout October.
ASPARAGUS
This market is firm and Jumbo product continues to be tight.
Overall quality is good. California is expecting to wrap up over the next 3-4
weeks.
Fruit
STRAWBERRIES
We
are dealing with an industry wide problem with supplies and quality of
strawberries out of California. record temperatures started hitting the
strawberry growing areas on Sunday and continued thru today (90 to 100 +
degrees) Forecast is calling for a cooling trend going into the weekend. This
heat has hurt the quality of the strawberries being harvested this week. Issues
to be aware of will be sunburn (bronzing), over ripe fruit, bruising and decay.
Arrivals with 15 to 20% defects would be considered a good arrival. Sizing will
also be affected and will downsize quickly as the fruit ripens quicker. Stems
strawberries will be and are very limited and will be for the next few weeks.
Strawberry crews were pulled out of the fields by 11am the last three days due
to the high heat in the growing areas. This has put us into a demand exceeds
supply situation. We will do our best to get your orders covered in full but
expect loading delays and last minute loading location changes. All shippers
are in a heavy fill rate situation we do not anticipate these arrival
conditions to change in the near future. Shippers are being very selective as
to where and to whom their fruit is being shipped to because most packs, if not
all, will have issue upon arrival. It will take couple weeks to get thru the
quality issues in the fields from this heat. Market is firm.
RASPBERRIES
These record temperatures in the Raspberry fields have put
these plants to sleep. Most of the fruit that was ready to be harvested was
burned up and will be thrown away. Supplies are very limited with moderate
demand. Quality is fair at best. Market is firm.
BLACKBERRIES
High temperatures will shut down the plants from producing,
so look for supplies to get very limited as this week moves on. The quality of
the fruit will also be hurt due to these warm temperatures. We are in demand
exceed supply situation. Look for this market to stay tight for the next month.
Santa Maria and Mexico has started packing some light numbers of blackberries.
BLUEBERRIES
Good demand with lighter supplies is firming this market.
Quality is fair on the NW fruit. The main pack size is switching to 4.4oz with
a few 6oz still being packed. The first blueberries out of Argentina have
arrived in Miami. Expect good quality but light volume out of Argentina and
high prices.
GRAPES
Market is very strong as we are all fighting color due to
our warmer than normal temperatures which do not help bring on the color. The
fruit is very high in sugar, but hopefully when things cool off we will get
some better color. There is a chance that the fruit may not color up due to its
high sugar content, and there might come a time that we will have to start
packing lighter colored fruit. We will keep you posted as far as that is
concerned. Expect the market to stay strong through November unless the color
comes then we should stay fairly steady.
STONE FRUIT
Shippers
are finishing up early this season on all fruit. Peaches and Nectarines are for
the most part done for the season other than some large Peaches still
available. Plums look to remain available for the next week or so in a light
way. California pomegranates have started with good supplies. Persimmons have
started early in a light way.
Apples & Pears - nothing significant - few things more
pronounced for us this week. Small everything (Anjou & Bartlett as well
as all apples) continues to be in high demand (125ct and smaller).
Demand is across all sectors (export, domestic retail, and domestic
foodservice). Availability of the mid sizes so far is adequate to meet demand
and then a few extra. Growers have started harvesting Braeburn crop a week ago.
We haven't started harvesting any new varieties this week. Next in line is
Cameo in 7-10 days then Pink Lady at end of month.
AVOCADOS
Mexico’s
Flora Loca crop is begging to wind down. Their new main crop will be ready to
come to market as soon as the Flora Loca is done. California volume looks good,
but will begin its down turn further into October as we start to see the end of
California’s season.
ORANGES
Market steady and not much change from last week, the
overall quality is fair as we are on our way to the finish line with Valencia’s
and will hopefully start navels by the end of this month. We are still tight on
113’s and 138’s with good supplies of 72’s and larger the fruit does still have
excellent sugar and juice content. The new navel crop looks to be very good as
far as quality and with our warmer than usual weather the sugar should be
better than in previous years when we start.
GRAPEFRUIT
Florida and Texas is shipping grapefruit.
LEMONS
Market all over the board due to fruit coming from Chile,
Mexico, D-2 and D-3, we expect to see the Chilean finish by this next week and
hopefully the D-2 will finish in the next couple of weeks as well, which should
help stabilize things. The best quality would be out of D-3 as the fruit is
very strong and firm, with less gas hours than usual. We are peaking on 140’s
and 165;’s on our D-3 fruit and will go very strong for the next 3 months out
of the desert.
LIMES
Supplies are good on all sizes. Past rains in the growing
area is and causing some quality issues.
CANTALOUPES
Market is steady as we are starting to get better volume
than what we have had over the past few weeks. We will have fruit for the next
2 weeks out of the Westside and then transition to the desert for the fall
melon deal. The overall quality is very good and interior color and condition
HONEYDEWS
Market extremely tight as we are getting less volume than
expected and starting to finish on the Westside, but going with light supplies
out of the northern Ca. area expect the market to stay steady until we start
out of the desert in a couple weeks. The overall quality is very good with high
sugar and excellent interior condition.
WATERMELON
Market is steady. Continued demand exceeds on s/less
watermelon. Most availability will be in bins on s/less. Availability on seeded
watermelon is sporadic. W/melon will start crossing in small volume through
Nogales by the weekend. Additional growers will come online by mid October
BANANAS
Supplies are steady and demand continues to remain strong,
this market is unchanged.
PINEAPPLES
Production is good. Markets will start to tighten around
December.
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