For the week of: Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Archives

Lettuce & Greens

LETTUCE & LEAFS: LEAF LETTUCE - Supplies have lightened up on romaine and pricing is competitive. Green leaf is steady. Some mildew is occurring on the outer leaves but suppliers are peeling that portion back. The weights are still good after the peel back on all leaf items. Foggy, overcast mornings continue to be in the Salinas growing region. The availability of romaine will be tighter next week compared to past weeks. LETTUCE - This market is softer. The availability is stronger with most suppliers, however there continues to be a gap in pricing of around four dollars amongst different shippers. The weights are good, averaging 44-48 lbs. Mildew and burn has been seen sporadically, but overall the quality has been good. The availability of this commodity will be good throughout this week.

Citrus

CITRUS: Lemons: Supplies are good, with very good demand. The market continues to firm on 140’s and larger. Quality is very good. Limes: Supplies are tighter to begin the week due to rains last week in Mexico. Look for supplies to come back by the end of the week. Fruit is peaking on 175’s, 150’s. Smaller sizes beginning to shorted up a little as fruit sizes up. Oranges: This should be the last week for late Navels. Valencia’s are in good supplies and demand continues to increase. Market pricing on small choice grade fruit is firming.

Fruit & Melons

MELONS: Cantaloupe: Sugar levels are still good with solid fruit and good quality. We are starting to see better volume peaking to 9’s. Small fruit is still very limited. Honeydew: The west side fruit is available but peaking to 5’s leaving minimal 8’s available. Quality is very good and volume will continue to increase.

BERRIES/FRUIT: BERRIES - Strawberries: Cool weather in the strawberry growing areas is limiting harvests causing the market to firm up. Quality is still fair with a few good lots due to the wet cool mornings. It is that time to keep your inventories down and only order what you need. Demand is still good. Sizing is medium with counts in the mid teens. Stem Strawberries are limited out of all areas. Market is higher. Raspberries: Good demand with light supplies is keeping this market firm. Quality is good with a few fair lots. Blackberries: California supplies are coming out of Watsonville at this time. Demand is good with a firming market. Quality is fair to good. Blueberries: Supplies continue to improve out of Oregon, BC and Michigan with good quality fruit being harvested in all areas. The main pack size is pints with a few 6oz. being packed. Market is softer. APPLES/PEARS - Washington reds, golds, and Granny-Smith apples are still heavy large fruit and the premium grade. The smaller sizes and lower grades are still very tight and getting tighter now that the early school business is coming back. Besides the small counts the markets on reds and Granny’s are mostly steady. Golden delicious are higher as supplies are really low. Galas & Fuji’s are finished for the season. D’Anjou pears are finished for the season in Washington. California is still packing green Bartletts and stark-crimson red pears. The markets for both are steady to lower as more shippers get started. Bosc pears will start in California in approximately 2 weeks. GRAPES - Red flames are running very small in the central valley with limited availability on large fruit. The market is staying steady with the large fruit pulling premium pricing. Red Scarlets are available with limited availability but very nice extra large fruit. Thompsons and Sugarones are available with good size and eating very well. Summer Royal blacks are available with good quality. Red Globes are set to start in the central valley in the next week to 2 weeks.

AVOCADOS:: California harvest is now past the 60% harvest point. Demand remains very strong. Mexico has entered into their light summer production. California Fruit: The California harvest is peaking on 48’s, with dwindling supplies of 60’s and smaller. Mexican Fruit: Growers have very little fruit to cross into the states as their season is at the end. The latest update on the beginning of their off bloom season is early August. If Mexico continues to get rain as they are, this could be pushed back.

Potatoes & Onions

POTATOES/ONIONS: ONIONS - All colors of onions are available in California this week. New Mexico got several inches of rain over the weekend so they have very limited availability on all colors. Washington continues with wintered-over yellows but the supplies are very light and the quality is dropping. California is still packing mostly average size yellows. The yellow market is lower on all sizes due to lack of demand. Reds are steady to higher with lower supplies. White supplies are light in both areas but pricing is steady. Colorado is starting to pack a few yellows and prices are steady to lower. Canada is packing yellows and will start packing reds next week. POTATOES - Idaho continues to peak on smaller size cartons but the market is higher again due to strong demand. The Idaho market is strong on all sizes and packs and will remain so for the balance of the storage season. Idaho’s quality has been mostly good but peeper-sprouts and internal black-spotting have been seen in some lots. Washington has started packing new-crop norkotahs and is peaking on 80/70’s. The Colorado market is still in a demand-exceeds supplies situation. They are still heavier to 60/70’s but supplies are extremely light as the smaller shippers have finished packing and storage supplies are very low. They will be done with old-crop in the next 2 weeks. California is still packing norkotahs and is heaviest to 70/80’s, but this will be their last week. Prices remain mostly steady on all sizes. California also continues to pack colored potatoes. Most Bakersfield packers have finished. All Colors are available from the Stockton area. There are still a few left in Bakersfield as well but Stockton has the better quality and color. North Carolina, Virginia, and Alabama have reds and a few golds, with some round whites, but the temperatures have been so hot that they aren’t holding up after harvest which has pushed much of the business to California. Minnesota/North Dakota and Wisconsin have starting to pack reds also.

Tomatoes & Vegetables

TOMATOES/VEGETABLES: ASPARAGUS - This market is firm on all sizes. Harvesting crews in Mexico have been limited due to weather conditions. Thunderstorms are expected again throughout the week in the growing regions. Expect product to be very light for the next two weeks. Peru is experiencing very cold weather also and hence production is down as well. Jumbos will be extremely difficult to purchase throughout this week. Pre-booking orders as early as possible is highly recommended. BELL PEPPERS - Western Green Bells and Colored Bells: The Le Grand, Stockton and Gilroy areas have started, with increased production over the next few weeks. Bakersfield crop for colored bells is in good production Eastern Bells: Bell pepper supplies are ramping up in Michigan. With the increasing volume and weak demand, the market should continue a steady decline throughout the week. Quality has been excellent. BROCCOLI - This market continues to be soft. The availability of supplies is plentiful with all suppliers. Vendors are willing to make deals on volume orders on bunched or crowns so run offers buy. Mexico supplies will be moderate throughout the week. The quality is expected to be strong throughout the week in all of the growing areas. CAULIFLOWER - The cauliflower market continues to be steady. Supplies are good with many shippers and volume quantities are available at discounted pricing. The best availability is coming in the twelve counts. The price fluctuations are not as dramatic as compared to past weeks, which is an indicator that supplies are good. Santa Maria and Salinas continue to be the two big growing regions at this time. CELERY - This market continues to be steady. Oxnard is finished and Salinas and Santa Maria are now the main growing areas of production. Smaller sizing is more readily available compared to past weeks. The weights and quality of celery continue to be strong. Pricing is very similar amongst all the sizes available. CUCUMBERS - Western Cucumber: Baja production will decrease slightly over the next 3 weeks. Eastern Cucumbers: The recent heavy rains in the Michigan / Ohio area have caused the cucumber market to react. Prices are up this week and will most likely continue to climb through the week as New Jersey finishes up and more people look to Michigan. SQUASH - Western Squash: Baja looks to have good steady supplies for the next few weeks. Santa Maria has good steady volume on Italian, but Yellow production is down some. Eastern Squash: After a tight weekend for squash, things seemed to have loosened up a bit this week. Prices are steady and the volume is definitely there. Quality is good. TOMATOES - Eastern: Roma tomatoes continue to be behind on production compared to the other crops, and we are seeing higher fobs on the Romas compared to weeks previous. Round tomatoes are in good supply and have cleaned up the majority of the fruit that was affected by previous heat and rain. Cherry and Grape have also come down on price and availability is good. Reports of quality are much better than last week. There are a lot of “local” growing deals along the east up into Michigan and that will keep fob’s low and supplies good. Western: Supplies out of San Diego are increasing as the transition is done. We are seeing better availability on all packs. Cherry and Grape tomato production is strong with low FOB’s and shippers making deals to keep things moving. Weather has been favorable in Baja with no major issues. Central California continues going strong with production and plenty of good quality fruit behind it.

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