7/16/14

We are now well into the summer months with Fourth of July behind us, and no significant weekends or holidays in the near future.  Many Americans will be on vacation, buying less at home, and grocery sales tend to slow during this period.   Trucks are readily available, although staying busy with melon, tree fruit and berry loads.  Fuel prices are expected to level out and decrease over the next few weeks.  Rates have remained steady but could be cheaper by early next week with less demand. West coast weather remains pleasant and mild and hot inland valley temps over the next 10 days. Ideal growing weather for coastal vegetables and fruit, expect nice quality overall from the west.

LETTUCE – Supply is improving as demand settles and more product is available country wide with cheaper freight costs. Still a fairly wide gap in pricing, although the trend has been downward and buyers are waiting it out.  For now the market seems to have settled with most shippers, with more following suit in the days ahead.  Quality is nice, some pink ribbing and brown butt issues but very minimal.  Could see aging issues as we expect some inventory holdover in the coming days.

BROCCOLI – This market is at the floor level, particularly on crowns. Eastern and Midwest product is flooding terminals with cheap product and demand remains sluggish.  Mild weather will continue on the west, bringing on high quality product.

CAULIFLOWER – Prices continue to settle, more product is coming out of fields and some shippers are looking for load volume sales.  There is still a gap in pricing between shippers and this market has yet to find coming ground. The trend has been downward but cauliflower market have proven to be significantly more volatile than other commodities.  Shippers may have load volume one week and sold out the next. Plenty of deals available but we suggest sticking to normal volumes.

LEAF – romaine is one of the few strong market items.  Numbers are light and demand has been high.  This market will most likely reach its peak within the next few days, high retails will move demand back to lettuce and alternate leaf items as price conscious buyers hit the stores.

CELERY – The past few days have breathed new life into the celery market.  Pricing has increased $4-$5 in the past few days. Supply gaps are mainly to blame for this, and sizing discrepancies have fueled the increase.  Large sized product is more readily available, and very few smaller sizes have resulted in a wider range in pricing between 24s and 48s.  More product has been left in the fields to size up in hopes of better markets.  As markets improve we should see more small sizes available next week.  Pricing, although stronger, is not expected to get much higher into the weekend.

BERRIES –

Strawberries –Produce remains tight, demand is strong, although weaker than previous weeks.  Weather is mild, although humid nights could result in softer fruit and quality issues.  Sizing tends to be on the smaller side, mostly due to current varieties being used.  It is best to stick with better labels this time of year to minimize quality issues.

Raspberries –Very tight, market is increasing and quality is getting worse.  Low supply and marginal quality have resulted in heavy pro rates industry wide.

Blackberries – Similar issues with blacks, soft leaky fruit is common for this time of year. Market is strong with heavy pro rates.