With the holiday over, we are now heading towards typical summer action.  Markets are slowly warming up after hitting the bottom last week.  Supplies are cleaning up on a number of items and movement is getting better.  Quality has been satisfactory despite the rain a week and a half ago.

Trucks are tighter this week, fuel prices remain high and truckers are calling the shots as to where and what they want to pick up.   Rates are still in the high 7000 range for mixers to the east coast, slightly higher than they were last week, but they should be easing up as fuel prices drop and more trucks come into the mix.

Weather is going to be cool for the rest of the week with temperatures staying below the mid 60s.  There may be a warming trend starting later next week.

LETTUCE — Better demand these past few days and shippers are cleaning up supply.  Quality is better as movement improves, fresher product and cooler weather makes for stronger structure and it should ride better than previous weeks.  Buy heavy early this week, as we expect this market to get a bit stronger towards the weekend.

BROCCOLI — heavy supplies as we come into the week.  Much of the action anticipated later last week never happened and now we will be seeing deals industry wide throughout this week.  Some quality issues came about from last weeks heat but low markets will keep most of the problems in the field and out of the box.   Plenty of deals although we have seen some 3 dollar spreads between some shippers.

CAULIFLOWER — Market has perked up a bit over the past few days.  There is a wide range of prices but overall we will see the action pick up towards the middle of this week.  There have been some quality issues mostly due to extreme temperature fluctuations, some browning and sunken areas, but nothing substantial, just be aware.

LEAF ITEMS — Nice quality industry wide.  Green leaf and red leaf are still cheap and more product on the way.  Romaine has been about 3 – 4 dollars stronger than green and red and should continue through the end of the week.

CELERY — market has been getting stronger as supplies clean up in Salinas.  A few factors will keep this market from getting out of hand.  First and foremost are the high freight rates.  With other summer items in the spotlight, high retail prices on celery will turn attention away from celery and more toward melons and berries for fruit salads.  Another factor that should keep prices at bay is the Michigan crop starting up. Once they start up there will be less demand for California celery.

STRAWBERRIES — Lighter supplies this week. Some quality issue and most shippers are leaving a berries in the furrows trying to mitigate what issues are out there in the field.  Cold weather has slowed production in most areas and we will see demand increase this week.  Off label fruit is now being priced similar to Driscoll so we may see them raise their prices over the next week or two if conditions do not change.

Ed Brem

ed@producewest.com