Today starts the first big week of Thanksgiving pull. Already, demand is picking up for the traditional veg items such as celery, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and carrots. Along with the demand, the markets are going up, as well. On top of that, we got a pretty good shot of rain over the weekend, which has slowed down harvesting of those items, along with just about everything else coming out of the Salinas Valley, or San Joaquin Valley. This means it will be slower getting product in from the fields, and trucks will get bottled up at the coolers. Not a lot of fun having to deal with these issues. Trucks are in good demand, and will probably be tight by the end of this week, going into the following week. Rates will stay firm with some of the high binders trying for more money as this week goes. Long range weather shows not much rain in sight for the next 10 days, thankfully, and temperatures will be starting to warm up by the end of this week.

LETTUCE–the shippers pushed this market up last week, and we thought things would come down by the weekend. It didn’t happen because of all the POOR quality in Huron, and shippers are having to throw away quite a bit of their volume. As a result the market is even stronger today, with some quotes as high as $20 FOB for wrap 24s.The rain that hit over the weekend is NOT helping the quality! The desert has started, but most of the volume continues to come out of the Huron/Bakersfield areas. The quality in the desert isn’t much better, but at least it is fresher looking. Either way, DON’T HOLD YOUR PRODUCT!

BROCCOLI–very strong market, especially for crowns. LOTS of ads tied up, and anything non-committed is going for $15-18.00 FOB, which is $20-23 on the East coast. Supplies are coming out of Salinas, Santa Maria, and San Joaquin Valley.

CAULIFLOWER–while not as big an item for Thanksgiving as broccoli is, demand has picked up along with the price, which is nearly double what we saw last week. We could see the market continue to climb slowly this week.

LEAF ITEMS–even though red, green, and romaine aren’t traditional ad items for Thanksgiving, we are seeing stronger demand and rising prices, mainly due to the iceberg lettuce market being so active. Romaine, in particular, is active.

CELERY–we should be seeing prices take off upward as Thanksgiving business gets started, and it is, but just now going crazy. Last year, you may recall, the market got shoved upwards of $20 FOB, and never looked back for several months. This year, MUCH more celery has been planted, and we are seeing much heavier volume. On top of that, Oxnard has started, and they normally don’t get going until the second week of Thanksgiving business. Overall, we don’t see this market going crazy, and may even end up LOWER than the ad lids that are out there.

STRAWBERRIES–the rain in Salinas/Watsonville yesterday just about put the nail on the coffin for this area. Oxnard and Santa Maria are about the only games in town and demand is VERY strong and high priced, for what little volume they are doing. Quality is VERY suspect, so get them in, and get them out as quickly as possible, and don’t expect anything with bells on it!! Ed Brem

ed@producewest.com