Production has improved enough for the market to settle from its’ peak. Demand seems to continue steady with fluctuating supplies. Growers continue to battle mildew and disease in some fields forcing early harvest especially with the remnants of Hurricane Rosa.  Processors will continue to have the largest impact on markets as they supplement supplies depending on their yields. Overall quality is good with some variation in color and weights , mostly due to proportion of mildew being trimmed at field level. Expect volatility to last through the Fall season. Transition to Central Valley growing areas will begin later October. Additionally Las Cruces , NM will begin production by the end of next week . Some heavy rains earlier this Summer reduced planted acreage but excellent quality is forecast

Romaine and especially Heart demand continues to be strong Improved demand especially from the East continues to fuel higher pricing.. Quality continues to struggle with seeders causing twist and rib discoloration. Cooler evenings have helped but recent warmer evenings may further enhance the issues along with increasing mildew pressure. green leaf demand remains strong while red leaf is along for the ride. Quality has been fair with heavy seeder and now mildew.

Domestic production from Northern Coastal region continues to be strong. The market has held mostly steady. Improved production and quality from regional production areas in Eastern Canada have decreased demand from California and has led to heavy discounts by some shippers.

Green Bell production continues steady with improving demand allowing for higher pricing. Red Bell production has peaked and markets have begun to firm..

This market remains soft this week. Shippers are looking to move product at competitive pricing, especially on larger sizes. Production is coming out of Oxnard, Santa Maria and Salinas. Quality is very strong with good color, structure and texture. Very few problems to report. Run offers by us.

Light rains came to the coast on Wednesday. We will have to wait and see how the wet weather will affect the market. The rainfall is heavier in the southern growing areas of Santa Maria and Oxnard. Harvest is on hold with crews standing by waiting for the rain to stop. Shippers are expecting supplies to become limited going into the weekend. Quality will be effected over the next week as growers pick through the rain damaged fruit down south. We expect market prices to jump in Santa Maria and Oxnard. Up north in Salinas / Watsonville, we are seeing light rain this morning. Harvest has not stopped, but we will have to wait and see if the storm blows through. At this point, I do not expect any major supply issues in the northern growing regions. Quality may be better in Salinas / Watsonville over the next week if Santa Maria and Oxnard continue to get hit hard. Market prices are expected to climb slightly.

Blackberries have been very limited recently. The domestic production has tapered off quickly, and supplies are snug in all California areas. Mexico has just started to scratch the surface with only a handful of shippers bringing that fruit into McAllen, TX. Because this is the only fruit available from Mexico at this time, we will see aggressive prices to help move the product out of Texas. We expect Mexican production to slowly ramp up over the next 2-3 weeks and more shippers will start to bring fruit over the border. We will see Mexican fruit available to load in California by the end of the month. Prices on the remaining domestic fruit has been higher. Quality is fair.

Raspberry supplies have been steady. Quality continues to hold strong, and markets have lackluster. We continue to see harvest in Salinas, Watsonville and Santa Maria. We will see this supply gradually taper off as Mexico gets started (as early as next week). We do not foresee any disruption in supply through the transition. We expect Mexico to be the primary area of production by the end of this month. We will see the Mexican fruit first become available out of McAllen, TX and slowly fill the pipeline for California as harvest increases.

Limited supplies will continue into next week. With the cooler weather in the South American growing regions, most shippers have opted not to harvest or send any containers to the US. This combined with the delayed and limited arrivals that were on the water, we are left in a “demand exceeds supply” situation. This is an industry-wide issue. Although shippers on the west coast are relying on storage blues from the Pacific Northwest to help fill demand, there is simply not enough fruit. Supplies will not improve until we see import fruit arrivals from Peru and Argentina on the east coast and Mexico pick up harvest for the west coast. Speaking with shippers, they are hesitant to put a hard date on when they expect supplies to increase. They are depending on the import production to ramp up, and thus far, supplies have been far less than expected. Once we have consistent containers on the water, we will need to wait for the pipeline to be filled before we see any real promotable volumes. We can expect to be in this position for another 2-3 weeks.

Lighter yields are forecasted for the next couple of weeks. FOB prices are gradually increasing and are expected to continue in this manner going into next week. Quality is good, there is still the light yellow cast and some soft shoulder being found, but as growers yields have decreased they are now keeping their daily inventory fresh.

Market is beginning to gain some momentum as we finish out the week. Prices gradually declined last week and then caught and have now begin to increase. Lighter yields in California due to quality issues such as branchy, cateye and some spread of the dome have reduced harvest projections. As Central Mexico begins their season yields are expected to be light the first few months of harvest due to rains interrupting planting schedules. Markets could remain at current or slightly higher trading levels for a while. We expect to start our “Shui Ling” broccoli program out of Central Mexcio loading in Pharr, TX by the end of next week with light volume.

Lime – Lime markets are steady, and pricing is promotable. Quality is mostly fair to good from Mexico.

Lemons – The market is mostly steady to slightly lower as we continue a slow transition into our domestic crop. Currently fruit is available from California, Mexico, and offshore from Chile.  Quality is slowly improving on the new crop as it is being harvested.

Oranges – The offshore Oranges 88’s and smaller are in heavy demand with those sizes generally sold out as the containers arrive. Offshore Oranges 72’s and larger are more readily available. Market price trending slightly higher. California Valencia oranges are coming in mostly 72 and 88 ct and larger with fair quality at best.  New crop California Navels will start at the end of October.  The initial 2018-19 Navel orange forecast is 80.0 million cartons, up 11 percent from the previous year .  Some growers are reporting brix already as high as 14 brix.

Production continues steady with limited demand . Market continues to offer values on all sizes. Current varieties are solely seeded or Thornless. Green Globe or Heirloom variety will appear in limited quantities later this month.

A serious gap has developed in supplies; The Westside quickly wrapping up, and the rain today & tomorrow is bringing this about a bit quicker than anticipated. Only a couple of suppliers are expecting to work for another week or so up there.  The desert was expecting to start by early to mid next week, but that is now in doubt due to the rains Yuma and Phoenix have experienced. Next week estimates now have that area starting the weekend of the 12^th or the following week. Sizes there are expected to run large. We look for short supplies and rising prices through mid to all of next week, with lower prices perhaps developing by the week of 10/15.

Once again the market arc of honeydews has been following that of cantaloupes; Suppliers on the Westside and in Sacramento are finishing up and should be completely done over the weekend or early next week. Most are done now or running mostly all 8s size with few larger. Prices have risen commensurate with the supply shortage. As with cantaloupes, the desert area start date is being pushed back several days or perhaps a full week, starting now no earlier than the weekend or the week of 10/15. We suspect sizes will run large on the honeydews in the desert as well. As with lopes we look for sharply higher prices and short supplies thru most of not all of next week with perhaps declining prices and increasing supplies the week of 10/15

Spotty showers will be passing over the grape growing region of the San Joaquin Valleyon Wednesday afternoon. Most growers have covered their vines with plastic to minimize the affects of the rains. For now, we don’t foresee any quality issues from the rain for loading the next 7-10 days as there is plenty of pre-rain grapes in inventory. On red seedless, the Scarlet Royal crop is very good this season with beautiful color, very firm berries and brix in the 22° plus range. The Scarlet Royal crop is plentiful and can support volume ads.  For green seedless, we are into the Autumn Kings. This variety is coming in with big berries more flavor than years previous.  For next week, we expect market pricing to be fairly steady on all varieties with moderate demand.  As we continue into the Fall, the grape crop will continue to consist of large, flavorful varieties with excellent maturity and good volume to support promotions. Come and get’em.

Yellow Flesh Peaches and Flavor Fall Pluots are still going with good quality and size. Market prices have been steady. Look to get one last ad opportunity in before the end of the California crop.  Peak size on the Yellow Flesh Peaches remain the same at 40/42’s while the Flavor Fall Pluots are peaking on 64 ct tray packs.  We forecast availability through the middle of October.

Production has been light most of the Summer and with National Holiday and recent rains in Northern Mexico production has come to a grinding halt. Supplies are expected to remain tight through the month.

Production from Western Mexico is expected to improve in coming weeks. Some seeding has been seen on initial harvest but quality should improve as additional fields open up. Production from Peru should also be increasing in coming weeks with prices expected to be lower.

Volume is increasing daily out of Northern Mexico. The recent hurricane has slowed production, creating some supply gaps for the short term, although supplies are expected to improve next week. Quality has been strong overall.

Cauliflower the market has been firm with lighter supplies due to cooler evenings. Quality has been good with some insect pressure in the hotter inland locations .

Broccoli production has improved slightly but the market continues to be strong. Demand is expected to improve heading into the fall as eastern regional supplies are likely to finish early due to Summer long heat and humidity.

Most Herbs and Bunching Green production continues to be light with improved demand . The markets are expected to advance with increased pressure from East coast demand. . Expect some volatility in supplies as we approach the Fall and “Homegrown ” production becomes scarce.

Leaf, Iceberg  as well as Romaine Production has been limited , mostly due to quality with heavy insect and mildew pressure. Expect markets to continue to advance as demand increases from the east.

Lemons:  Improved production and reduced quality has eased demand although pricing remains elevated . Imported quality from Mexico and Chile has surpassed the limited domestic supply at least until production increases from the desert in coming weeks..

Oranges  Valencia season has finished prematurely and Navels are still a couple weeks away. Expect limited supplies and sharp price increases until the Navel crop comes in later this month

Limes:  Supplies from Mexico continue to improve and the market remains steady. Quality has held steady despite weather interruptions with improved color although mostly smaller sizing.

Grapefruit:  Production is prematurely finishing with supplies not expected to return til the end of the month from the desert

Mexico production has improved with additional supplies expected early next month. Quality has been good with promotional supplies available through October. as well as off shore varieties  California: Season will begin early next year 2019

Green & Red  Central Valley supplies continue to be excellent along with outstanding quality. A few older varieties with smaller sizing profiles are expected to decrease resulting in a tighter price range. The remaining “newer” varieties , especially reds are exceptional size and brix levels.

Carrot Production has been steady but excessive heat in the Central Valley most of the Summer has interrupted production , further hampering availability with advanced notice already required with current heavy demand .

Potato supplies have transitioned to the Northwest with improving supplies of Gold, Red and Russets.  Onion demand has been good and production is steady with improving supplies of Reds. Quality has been very good The market continues to be strong.especially on Red and White

OG Watermelon Production continues to be primarily from Central Valley California although supplies are expected to slow considerably before transitioning to to Mexico ( Nogales) later this month.

OG Cantaloupes and Honeydews production from Central Valley California is winding down with limited availability.. Transition to the Arizona desert is expected to begin in a couple weeks although heavy rains from Hurricane Rosa are expected to impact supplies and quality .