With hurricane season under way, the East coast is forecasted for rain showers and storms and unsettled weather for the next 10 days. This will NOT help the produce business at the store level, especially with items such as strawberries, tree fruit, grapes, melons, and various vegetable items. With kids back in school, we will also see more traditional eating practices, and less eating out. There should be plenty of product out West, and deals on selected vegetable and fruit items.
As mentioned, the next 10 day weather forecast for the East coast show rain off and on. The growing regions out West show warmer days ahead, fairly typical for this time of year. No rain.
Trucks are fairly tight this week, mainly due to yesterday being a holiday, and now we will be squeezing 6 loading days in to 5. Rates should hold steady.

LETTUCE–steady market anticipated this week. Demand is only so-so, but supplies are fairly light, by design, so we don’t look for much of a change this week. Also, as mentioned earlier, we are loading this week with one less day. Supplies are still coming out of Salinas and Santa Maria areas.

BROCCOLI– good supplies of bunch 14s, 18s, and crowns this week, and there should be deals around. Quality is holding up nicely, and supplies are in Salinas and Santa Maria areas.

CAULIFLOWER–there are some really good deals out here right now on 12s, 9s, or 16s. This is an item that, when available, you need to grab NOW, and push hard, because by this time next week, supplies will be lighter, and we could see prices double what they are presently. Quality is good to VERY good.

LEAF ITEMS–no change. Romaine is still very active and high priced, green leaf is also showing good action, but with a wide range in price, and red leaf is about the lowest priced leaf item available.

CELERY–shippers looking for business on all sizes, except for Dole. They are nearly DOUBLE in price on their smaller size celery, because they are light in supply. But, they don’t care, because they have a good following with their celery, and feel they are worth the higher prices. That may or may not be true, but don’t tell THEM that.

STRAWBERRIES–shippers still looking for business, except for Driscoll, and they are still pro rating supplies, although not as much as they have been the past 2 weeks. They anticipate better supplies starting next week, and they should come off in price. For now, though, they are more than double the mostly market. Quality is still suspect, with most shippers not wanting to go East with their fruit. Driscoll is about the only label making arrival, and even their fruit is only fair, at best. It’s just that time of year.