Although summer doesn’t officially start until next week, schools are out and vacations are starting. Because of our continuing slow economy, “staycations” will, once again, be the norm.  But, that also means shifting of produce needs from the typical cooking vegetables and lettuce salads, to fruit salads and picnic items. More ads and better demand on tree fruits, melons, and grapes, and less demand for lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, leaf, etc.

Long range weather forecasts show mild, sunny days in the Salinas area and 90s in the Fresno fruit regions, all typical for this time of year.

Trucks, which were EXTREMELY tight and high priced last week, are a bit easier to find today, and rates are a bit lower. Keep in mind that last week rates were hovering around $8000-8500 to the East coast, so even paying $7500 today, is still high. Fourth of July business kicks in next week, so demand should pick right back up.

LETTUCE–while demand is only fair, the market is still hanging around $15-16.00 FOB, which puts it $22-25.00 to the East coast, high for any decent retail. We feel this market is top heavy, and should start to come down this week. Quality is improving every day, with better size and weights.

BROCCOLI–flat market. As mentioned, folks get away from the “cooking” vegetables this time of year, and look for items like tree fruit, melons, and grapes to satisfy. Shippers out west basically plan on this, and don’t plant heavy during the summer months, hoping to keep the market from going too low. Still, there is quite a bit of broccoli around, and the market is flat at $6.00, or so, FOB, which puts it $11.50-12.50 delivered to the East.

CAULIFLOWER–like broccoli, demand is light and prices are fairly flat, although much more wide ranged than broccoli. FOB prices are ranging from $6.00 to $9.50, depending upon the label and shipper.

LEAF ITEMS–romaine still remains flat, as does red leaf. Green leaf, for some reason, is getting $4-5.00/box more than its counterpart, red leaf. More and more local deals are starting up throughout the Midwest and East, so we should see all of the leaf markets flat by this time next week.

CELERY–high freight rates are catching up with the FOB prices. In order to move celery, shippers are forced to drop their prices, to allow for a decent delivered price. The best deals are still on the larger size 18s and 24s, with as much as a $5.00/box SPREAD between those sizes and the 36s and 48s. However, delivered prices of celery are still in the mid-$20s, which makes retail pricing difficult.

STRAWBERRIES–even Driscoll looking for business. This deal has come to a complete stop, as the terminal markets are receiving load after load of “unpriced” fruit. And, we don’t expect things to improve for the next several weeks, at least. There is not only berries coming on in big numbers, but demand is falling off, as attention switches to tree fruit, melons, and grapes.

Ed Brem

ed@producewest.com