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Market Alerts & Produce Updates
For the week of April 22, 2024
The following updates and alerts were culled in collaboration with our growing family of brands. Scroll through both lists to help prepare for upcoming obstacles and opportunities.
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Grain
Because of favorable planting conditions in the United States, a high harvest in South America, and a decrease in overall demand, soybean oil was less. The weekly average of palm oil increased, but it dropped sharply on Friday due to the soybean oil trend. Canola also had a turbulent week due to a decline in soybean oil. -
Dairy
The markets for shell eggs are all flat, and demand is declining. Except for X-Large and Large, the markets in California and the Northwest are flat. Block and barrel sales are steadily rising. Butter has an issue with Demand for domestic butter varies around the country. -
Beef
The amount of market inventory keeps reducing packers' capacity to hold onto or raise pricing. Tenders and ribs still exhibit discounts. Top butts and strips are being dropped. Packers are discounting, and end cuts, insides, and chucks seem to be following market trends. Thin meats benefited from a reduced harvest, but grinds don't because of sluggish retail demand. -
Pork
Due of growing demand, both boneless butts and B/I will be moving up next week. The market is rising due to the increased demand for ribs. Retail advertisements are generating greater action in loins, which will lead to a robust market. As the weekly demand for fresh bellies rises, belly trends are also increasing. Trimmings have increased in line with the general pork outlook. -
Poultry
As May approaches, when breast season peaks, breasts have begun to stiffen. The market for wings is balanced. There is a high demand for tenders, yet they are still the hardest to locate offering. The desire for dark meat is still high. The majority of whole birds are balanced. -
Seafood
Because landings are much lower now than last year, the North Atlantic lobster business still faces supply issues for lobster meat and tails. The need for live lobsters keeps making it difficult for processors to produce frozen goods.
- Adverse weather conditions, drought, and prolonged El Nino/La Nina effects continue to persist, resulting in decreased production and higher market prices for different commodities. The escalated market prices are expected to endure for the upcoming weeks. The transition from Yuma, AZ, to Salinas Valley, CA, is complete, and all wet veg items will be shipped from Salinas Valley. The overall quality has continued to improve.
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Artichokes
Lighter supplies out of Oxnard the next two weeks. Demand has been strong during the Easter pull with higher pricing; quality has improved. -
Asparagus
Asparagus production remains unchanged from Mexico, and we will see another drop in production in 7-10 days due to seasonality. Peru continues to increase production and markets remain the same. White asparagus continues to be very limited to non-existent from Peru. -
Bananas
We are seeing some delays at the ports, but we are not anticipating any supply issues. In some rare cases fruit may be a color stage behind in ripening. Overall fruit is showing great overall quality. -
Blueberries
Northern Florida's acreage has shown significant progress as we approached the weekend, indicating a positive shift that is expected to continue for the next two weeks. Surprisingly, Georgia's harvest yielded impressive numbers as we entered the previous weekend, and this week witnessed a substantial increase in production, surpassing initial estimates. As we approach the final week of April and enter May, we anticipate a substantial yield of high-quality crops. The berries are of medium to large size and boast exceptional quality, size, and flavor. However, it is worth noting that some packs may exhibit attached stems, blush, and occasional scarring. -
Broccoli
Supplies are light due to the rain and cold weather during the growing period leading up to transition. The market is active. -
Brussels Sprouts
Overall supplies and quality remain good as Mexico and the Oxnard growing regions are in full production. Demand is increasing. -
Cabbage, Red
Quality is good although supplies continue lighter. Market is steady. -
Carrots
Steady supplies continue with good quality. Shippers still have light volume on Jumbos out of California. -
Cauliflower
We have seen a significant decrease in supplies due planting delays from previous cool wet weather during planting season, quality remains good. -
Celery
The market is trending higher as we head into next week with decreased supplies anticipated over the next few weeks. -
Corn
Good supply available out of Florida and Mexico this week. Quality is good out of the southeast and South Georgia projected to start the 2nd week of May. -
Cucumber
Steady supply available out of McAllen, Nogales, and Florida. South Georgia is projected to scratch on new crop at the end of April. -
Grapes, Green/Red
Grape availability remains at record lows on all varieties, and we expect this to continue through the month with elevated pricing on market business. There is more fruit on the water and scheduled to arrive and conditions are expected to slowly improve over the next 3-4 weeks. We do expect firm markets until the Mexican crop begins in approximately 3 weeks. Quality is fair and we are still asking for subs to black grape since they seem to have the best quality and legs over the red and greens. -
Herbs
Basil quality continues to improve each week. We are still seeing some quality issues with dill. Rain continues to affect supply and quality. Chervil production has improved. -
Lemons
We are seeing a significant size shift on Lemons. Small fruit is getting exceptionally short with reports that 70- 80% of the crop is running 95’s/115’s/140’s with no relief in sight until imports start in late June. -
Lettuce, Boston/Butter/Green/Red Leaf
All leaf items are now shipping from Northern California and overall production is steady with fair to good quality because of weather-related issues. The market is steady but could trend higher as demand increases. -
Lettuce, Iceberg
The crop has transitioned to Salinas, with just a few shippers continuing to ship out of Huron. We are seeing market pricing firming up because of industry planting delays during the rainy season, and late season cooler and wet weather trends, causing lighter yields and quality issues at the field level. Supplies will remain lighter and market strong as we finish out the month. -
Limes
The market and overall demand is steady. We continue to see increased availability on small sizes from new production harvests with large sizes continuing to be limited in supply. We anticipate a slight increase in demand for Cinco de Mayo, but anticipate market to continue to soften throughout Q2. -
Mushrooms
Stable supply and good quality available. -
Onions, Green
We are seeing better supplies out of Mexico, quality is improving and the market remains at higher-than normal levels. -
Onions, Red/Yellow
The onion market remains strong, but for a third consecutive week, it did not increase. White onions remain nonexistent in Idaho/Oregon, and extremely tight in Washington. We did begin to see a few more Mexican whites, and even a handful of yellows begin to cross in a small way this week. This would line up with the reports that Mexico has quit purchasing the domestic supply out of the Pacific Northwest as well. We are anticipating that in the next 1-2 weeks, Mexico will start bringing across a large enough crop to help ease the supply concerns in the Pacific Northwest. We should see Texas onions start about the first or second week in March as well. -
Oranges
Small size oranges continue to be in extremely short supply and will remain in short supply for the remainder of the navel season and into the valencia season. In addition, forecasted rain in the orange growing regions in central California will lead to delays in harvesting and trucks getting out timely. Early Valencia's are starting in a very light way with sizing trending large as well. -
Peas, Snow Pods/Sugar Snap
Guatemala's snow peas and sugar snap production has dropped due to the heat and lack of rain. Out of the west, there is a steady supply of snows, but sugar snaps will be limited for the next few weeks due to field transitions. -
Peppers, Green
Better supply this week across all sizes and quality is good. The desert is expected to start in May with South Georgia scratching late April. -
Peppers, Red
Excellent supply and good quality available on all sizes. -
Potatoes, Russet
The market continues to feel stable on all sizes and grades for the moment, with the exception of 40ct potatoes. While potatoes as a whole should remain plentiful, we do anticipate 40ct commanding a premium more often than not until the end of the crop. They have continued to be available for mixers, but we are not seeing very much straight load availability, or even availability in heavy volume. There will be some lots that are better than others throughout the season, but this does appear to be a theme moving forward. Because of this, we do anticipate that we may see a pretty big gap between 40ct/50ct and the rest of the sizes. -
Raspberry
Supply remains noticeably light, and the market is undersupplied. The weather has been consistently warm and sunny across all areas, occasionally accompanied by strong winds. Daytime temperatures have been in the mid-90s, while nights have been in the low 60s. The forecast for next week indicates that the heat will persist. The fruit appears to be in good condition, displaying a vibrant red color with some lighter shades in the mix due to early picking before the hot weather. The sizes are predominantly medium. Although there are occasional instances of overripe or damaged fruit in the packs, harvest teams are working diligently to ensure they are removed. Volumes will likely struggle over May and June until volumes pick up in northern California. -
Spinach
Supplies are good, quality is fair due to some of the cool, rainy conditions that the Salinas Valley experienced over the winter. -
Squash, Yellow
Shipping out of Florida, McAllen, and Nogales with good supply and quality available in general. Best quality continues to be on zucchini while yellow squash, with its tender skin far more vulnerable to imperfections, seems to remain very light in supply. South Georgia is about 2 weeks from scratching. -
Strawberries
Strawberry production is expected to rise soon, with the hope that the adverse weather conditions have passed. The plants are healthy and anticipated to bear considerable fruit in the coming weeks. Some cleanups may be required due to rain damage, but we are optimistic that Santa Maria and Watsonville will experience a significant increase in production. We are seeing some fruit with some misshapen button nose tips, green shoulders, and some pin rot, but crews are doing a good job of keeping packs clean. -
Tomatoes, Cherry
Crops out of Mexico are slowly improving and we are seeing a downward trend on price as the volume increases. Unfortunately, with the imbalance on the east coast due to less acreage planted and weather-related pressure, markets remain at record highs. We will see this continue until Florida can produce volume consistently. -
Tomatoes, Loose/Vine Ripe
Markets remain escalated as weather last week caused delays and yield loss in the older crops throughout Immokalee, which has put extra pressure on the market until growers can start packing the spring regions. We expect higher markets through the 3rd week of April when we expect to see more volume out of the newer areas. Quality will be hit and miss over the next week. -
Tomatoes, Roma
Markets remain unstable with good volume available this week. Quality is much better this week.
California Weather Alert
December 13, 2022 – The West Coast and San Joaquin Valley of California, has been receiving rainfall over the last few days, impacting all growing areas including Salinas, Santa Maria, Oxnard, into southern California and the Central Valley.
As a result, this has caused delays as fields are too muddy to harvest. Unfortunately, there has not been enough rain to reverse the major drought conditions they continue to experiencing, but is enough to affect harvesting for a few days.
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