Thursday, May 24, 2012

Produce News from the Field

MARKET REPORT 5/22/12
Berries: Baja is wrapping up their strawberry season as the weather is getting too warm for their liking. Oxnard is also sending most of their remaining berries to cannery as they are too ripe to ship. Watsonville berries have started out very large with excellent flavor. Market is a little bit stronger as the growing areas have been cut by 2/3rd’s. Blackberries and blueberries are starting to thrive with the heat. Markets should be getting cheaper over the next few weeks.

Melons: California and Arizona are coming into some good volume on cantaloupes. Prices are getting better daily. We are seeing high brix melons with full slip’s and very heavy netting. Honeydew volume is still primarily coming out of Mexico but Arizona is not far behind. Prices and quality are improving as well. Watermelon are getting closer but volume is still moderate out of Mainland Mexico. Bakersfield will hopefully be ready soon.

Vegetables & tomatoes: Nogales is all but shut down for the season except for a few tomatoes and some squash. Baja new crop round and roma tomatoes have started out fairly strong with good pricing and quality. Cherry and grape tomatoes are also new crop out of Baja with slightly higher prices but with nothing but sun on the forecast, they should back off quickly. Red & yellow bells are also coming out of Baja with good volume. Prices have come off considerably. Coachella is producing green bells, eggplant, and corn. Asparagus has begun out of California but remains very short. Washington is helping to supply demand but until Central Mexico gets started sometime next week, demand will continue to exceed supply.
Grapes & stonefruit: New crop flames and perlette’s are off to a slow start. Mexico has had issues with their crop and Coachella is still struggling to keep up with market demand. Prices are very high. California stonefruit has begun but is heavy to the small side as usual with the new crop. Prices are still fairly high but should come off pretty quick with very warm days ahead of us.
 
Citrus: Valencia oranges are in full swing now with good quality. Prices should ease up as we get into summer. Lemons remain on the short side. Quality has been hit and miss with choice grade looking less than what we are used to. Lime volume is pretty good with better pricing on smaller sizes.
Onions: New crop reds out of Mexico and Imperial Valley remain fairly short with higher pricing. We have stuck with the old crop on yellow onions as to try and avoid the Imperial Valley onions which always show very little skin and are very soft. They are starting to show better cure but are still not ready. This is a very short crop just to bridge us until Bakersfield and Stockton get started.
 


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