For the week of: Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Archives

Lettuce & Greens

LETTUCE & LEAFS: LEAF LETTUCE - The romaine market is steady to start the week. Some suppliers are looking to move volume and discounted pricing is available. Demand is off. Suppliers are dealing with ice in the fields. Blister and epidermal peel are issues we will be dealing with for the next couple of weeks. Green and red leaf also will have the same issues as romaine. Demand is off and pricing is steady. The main growing area is in Yuma. The Thermal area has picked up in production numbers. Supplies out of Santa Maria are light in availability. LETTUCE - The lettuce market is steady. Some suppliers are starting the week open due to lack of harvesting over the weekend. Suppliers continue to deal with ice, causing harvesting to be set back to late mornings. Epidermal peel and blister are going to be issues caused from the cold weather. Lettuce carton weights continue to be 35-40 pounds on average.

Citrus

CITRUS: Lemons: Demand is exceeding supplies of the small fruit (140’s, 165’s, 200’s, and 235’s). Tight supplies will go through December and January. The fruit is sizing up quicker with the lighter crop hanging on the trees of the Desert crop this year. Oranges: The Navels are in full production. Quality looks very nice and fruit is gaining better color with the cool weather we are now getting. Pack outs are running heave to Fancy grades. Limes: Supplies are lighter this week as growers move into the new crop. Supplies now look to be light until sometime after the New Year.

Fruit & Melons

MELONS: Cantaloupe: Nogales is limited and finishing up quickly. The offshore season is off and running with good availability. Fruit is still peaking to large sizes and limited availability on small fruit. The cantaloupe market is steady. Offshore product has started out west with decent availability midweek. Off shore sizing on the small fruit cleans up quickly so getting orders on the books early is a must. Honeydew: Mexican honeydew crossings into Nogales are limited but should have better availability this week. The market is higher. Florida off shore product is available and peaking to 6’s.

BERRIES/FRUIT: BERRIES - Strawberries: Weather is all the growing areas have been good other than being a little on the cool side which has slowed down production. Light demand has the market lower but steady. Quality has improved out all areas. Strawberries are coming out of Southern California, Florida and Mainland Mexico currently. Supplies are increasing slowly out of California and moderately out of Florida and Mexico. The only issue showing up in the packs out of California is white shoulder and sides due to cooler weather in this growing area. Raspberries: Quality remains good with light supplies but due to light demand the market is steady to slightly weaker. When demand picks up, look for this market to firm up. Blackberries: Quality remains good to fair with light supplies with a steady market due to light demand. Blueberries: The boats from Chile have hit. All growers have switch to 6oz packs and larger. The market is starting to weaken slightly. Quality is being reported as good. APPLES/PEARS - Reds in Washington are still very high in color and producing a lot of the higher grades and not many of the lower grades. Reds are still peaking on 88’s and 100’s. Golden delicious are also peaking on 88/100’s producing mostly extra-fancy grade fruit. Many suppliers are still limited on Golden’s this year so stay ahead. Granny-Smith is also heavier to the higher grades and peaking on 88’s and 100’s. Galas are still peaking on 88’s and smaller and they are producing more of the higher grade fruit. Gala demand remains strong and the supplies limited. Washington Honey Crisp is producing more 88’s and 100’s now but the availability is light. Most packers will be finished with Honey Crisp in early January. Cameos, Pink Lady’s, Jonagolds, Fuji’s, Braeburns and the other varietals are all still available. Washington Bartletts are heavy to the US#1 grade and are peaking on 100’s and smaller. D’Anjou pears are also peaking on the US#1 grade but are evenly spread across the size spectrum. Washington Bosc pears are peaking on 100/110’s and smaller. The market for large Bosc is very strong due to light supplies. Red D’Anjou and Stark Crimson red pears are also still available. GRAPES - The market on red grapes continues to be steady as availability is still good along with light demand. California product is finishing up for the season there will be very limited supplies next week. Off shore Chilean grapes are coming in on the east coast in a light way. The end of this week we will see the first of the Chilean grapes on the west coast. Peruvian Crimson coming in with better availability and market pricing is steady. Green grapes are finishing up quickly in the central valley quality is marginal at best. The Brazilian Festivals are finishing up quickly with marginal quality. Peruvian Thompsons are also available coming into the East Coast with very good quality. The market is weakening on the green grapes. Shippers have limited availability on domestic Black Seedless and Red Globe grapes. Off shore red globe have started coming in as well.

AVOCADOS:: Mexico harvest is lower as we move through the last week of holidays. Improved demand with New Year ads will firm up the market. Chile’s volume coming to the US is slowly increasing as the demand in Europe for their fruit drops.

Potatoes & Onions

POTATOES/ONIONS: GREEN ONIONS - This market is firm. Cold weather in the growing regions has produced lower yields in Mexico. The quality continues to have a few issues with decay upon arrival. Pencil sizing will have the best availability. Supplies are expected to be light to moderate throughout the week. ONIONS - Idaho/Oregon & Washington yellows are steady to lower on all sizes. Idaho/Oregon is still packing a few more colossal yellows while Washington has more medium size. Both areas are still discounting for volume. Colorado supplies remain limited and product is split between the eastern side and the western slope. The yellow quality has been excellent in all areas. Washington still controls the red onion volume and the market and the volume. Their market is steady to lower some flex for larger orders of jumbos. The Idaho/Oregon red market is still higher than Washington and also steady to lower with some flex for volume. White supplies are steady along with the market in all areas. POTATOES - The potato market in Idaho is steady on all sizes. 90-count and smaller are still higher priced than the 80-count and larger norkotahs. Burbanks are more evenly priced on all sizes. Washington is steady on all sizes and they continue to peak on the larger counts. Colorado is still peaking to 70-count and larger and they are also discounting for volume. Russet quality has been excellent in all areas. Bakersfield, California continues shipping red & gold potatoes from the northwest and all sizes are available. They are still packing their own whites and will start with reds and gold’s next week. The California white market is steady. Washington & North Dakota both continues packing reds and golds and both areas are heavier to A’s than B’s. Wisconsin continues packing reds, whites, and golds and supplies are good. Idaho is also packing reds and golds and they are also peaking on A-size. Quality has been excellent in Washington while Wisconsin and North Dakota have ranged from excellent to fair.

Tomatoes & Vegetables

TOMATOES/VEGETABLES: ASPARAGUS - This market continues to be firm on all sizes from Mexico. Extra large and jumbo sizes continue to be extremely light out of Mexico and this will continue thru the rest of the month. Standard and small sizing will be available. Peruvian product has a better price compared to Mexican product, and extra large and jumbos are available. BELL PEPPERS - Western: Green Bells and Colored Bells: Bell pepper production is steady. Most production is heavy towards large fruit with light supplies on medium size. Colored bells are starting to trickle in but, mostly in hothouse variety and packs. Conventional colored bells continue demand exceeds. Open field bells are starting to arrive but, not enough production to offset demand. Markets remain strong and do not foresee relief for another couple of weeks. Eastern Bells: This market continues its gradual decline this week, as demand has been off. Expect this market to remain inactive until next week. Quality in Florida pepper has been good. BROCCOLI - Demand is light and volumes have picked up with suppliers in Yuma. Expect supplies to be better for the rest of the week. Salinas continues to have light production and some suppliers continue to transfer to Yuma. There continues to be supplies available in Scottsdale if desired. CAULIFLOWER - This market is steady to start the week. Availability is expected to be light to moderate throughout the week in Yuma. Demand is light. Supplies will be light out of Santa Maria. Suppliers continue to have the best availability on sixteen count sizing. The overall quality has been fair. Supplies are expected to pick up in the next couple of weeks depending on the weather. Growers have planted good supplies in Yuma. CELERY - This market continues to be steady. Demand is off. Suppliers continue to have good supplies on the smaller sizes. Santa Maria as well as Oxnard looks to be the main areas of production. The quality is good with no major issues to report at this time. Suppliers are willing to take product to Yuma for an extra charge. CUCUMBERS - Western Cucumber: Lighter supplies on Super Select but, ample supplies on other grades are available. Market is steady across the board due to northern growing areas gradually winding down and weather slowing production in other areas holiday demand expected to keep market steady. Eastern Cucumbers: The cucumber market is gaining strength this week. Domestic supplies are quickly finishing up and the off shore deal is ramping up. Quality on the off shore product has been excellent and should remain so through the week. Look for this market to trend upward throughout the week. EGGPLANT - Western Eggplant: Supplies steady this week. Markets are stable and expected to remain steady. Eastern Eggplant: This market has remained steady and should continue to do so for the next week or so as supplies out of Florida increase and quality is excellent. SQUASH - Western Squash: Markets are unsettled due to cold weather over the weekend in squash growing districts. FOBs are not established as growers access any crop injury caused by cold snap. Market expected to rise as harvesting has been interrupted. Eastern Squash: Eastern squash market has evened out after a brief spike. Demand should remain strong with higher markets out west but that should not affect pricing on the east. Look for this market to remain steady going into the weekend. TOMATOES - Western: Talk is that the Mexican harvest overall will be pushed back somewhat as a result of the recent rains in northern Mexico. Although there are some crossings at McAllen, TX and Nogales, AZ, there will probably not be appreciable volume of round or roma tomatoes until the 1st or 2nd week of January. Eastern: The size profile of the mature green tomatoes being picked in the Immokalee/Naples & Palmetto/Ruskin districts in Florida is still heavy towards the large & medium sizes, and consequently this is causing a price spread between the x-large and those sizes. Add very good weather & holiday markets to the overall situation, and the result is somewhat sluggish movement over the next few days. Look for harvests in the northern areas to taper off in mid-January.

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