Lettuce 

As Salinas and Huron are winding down production, Yuma is starting to ramp up.  Overall supplies are sufficient with quality a minefield of issues. Warm weather in the desert has caused seeder and heavy rib discoloration on arrival and Northern California continues to have issues from tip burn, mildew and weak texture resulting in a lot of rejected lettuce clogging up the system.  Weather forecast shows a return to normal temperatures for the next 10 days which will help improve quality.

 

Mix Leaf

Similar to Iceberg, overlapping supplies and quality issues are dominant the category.  Heavy discoloration on arrival has been the norm.  When the temperatures return to normal in the desert look for improved quality and better markets with fewer arrival problems.

 

Brussels Sprouts

Heavy production continues from Salinas with light production starting up in Mexico. Demand has been good with many value added packs contributing to a relatively steady market despite the excess supplies although there are still deals available for volume orders.  Quality has been very nice and should continue to improve demand through the traditionally strong Holiday season.

 

Celery

High retails have been established for the holiday pull.  Stronger demand for smaller sized celery, and there are more deals on large sizes.  Quality is still nice industry wide and should continue through the month.  We expect the market to soften after the thanksgiving pull and strengthen up soon after, as most of the Salinas production comes to a close at the end of this month.  After that we should see a stronger market through the month of December through the New Year.

 

Broccoli

Lighter supplies are expected as we head into transition.  The Salinas Valley production is winding down with the Desert region not expected to be in full swing until the first part of December.  There is still decent availability out of Santa Maria and Mexican product crossing in Texas. Prices should remain at current trading levels over the next couple of weeks.  Quality is fair, we are finding some spread, bracketing and hollow core in the California product but color is nice and green.  We might start to find some purpling going into next week as cooler night time temperatures are expected over the next few nights.

 

Cauliflower

Steady supplies expected through the Holidays.  Trading prices will remain constant as we head into next week. Most supplies will be shipping out of Santa Maria and the Desert growing regions going forward.  You can find the occasional dome with some discoloration but overall quality is fine for this time of year.

Artichokes

Steady production from Salinas  is expected to continue with improving demand .  Predominate sizing will be the larger sizes with very good quality.   Thornless or seeded varieties continue to dominate the category with the preferred Heirloom or Green Globe not scheduled until the Spring.

Strawberries

The market continues to be very active on light supplies out of all areas. Demand is fair as prices have reached levels where the consumer turns to other alternatives. California is forecasting Saturday Rain and Sunday showers with highs in the 60’s and the lows in the 40’s. The quality on most berries has been fair, with most berries showing soft shoulders and light bruising.  Counts have been running 22 -26 in the Oxnard and Santa Maria areas. Look for supplies out of Mexico to recover from the recent rain showers the first week in December.

Cantaloupes

The desert deal began to wind down to a precious few.  Off shore melons began to kick in with early Guatemalan fruit this week. Mexico continued to ship. Most domestic shippers had smaller fruit. Mexico was staying mostly in country.  Demand overall was tepid, as melons are not a Thanksgiving item and higher prices kept buyers at bay.  Next week the desert deal will continue to peter out with a few scrapping into the first week in December. Off shore melons will increase as Guatemala gets into the shank of their harvest followed by the other Caribbean counties, the biggest being Costa Rica.  Demand should remain lackluster until cruise and vacation season starts to pick up right after the first of the year. We look for a steady market next week and lower the following week.

 

Honeydews

Domestic is winding down. Mexico continued to ship cheap fruit and off shores just got underway. Demand was dull due to the unseasonable nature of the item. Market was steady. We look for little change over the next two weeks

 

Florida Veg

Green beans have firmed up a little on the east coast and both machine picked and hand-picked are bringing more money. Supplies are good and will be for most of the winter. If you are looking to promote for December on either Machine or handpicked let us know. Zucchini and Yellow Straight have just started and the market is soft and ripe for promotion. There are good supplies in fancy and medium on both varieties.

 

Watermelon : There is great quality and good supply on Mexican Melons out of McAllen and Nogales Produce West is able to pack in either bins or cartons out of both areas and we have personals available out of Nogales. Produce West has seedless Watermelon year round and will have early domestic seedless in Florida.