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Commodity Updates
Keep up-to-date on how weather and other conditions across the country and the globe affect the quality, availability, and pricing of your fresh fruits and produce.
STRAWBERRY ALERT!
Strawberry demand exceeds supplies in all growing regions. Availability has decreased drastically and will continue to decline throughout the month of November. This supply gap is projected to last for 3 to 5 weeks.
Northern California growers (Salinas, Watsonville, and Castroville) have ended production for the season.
The Southern districts (Santa Maria and Oxnard) are past the crop's peak production and will continue to decline in production weekly. We have also seen rain and cooler weather in the growing regions which have posed another set of challenges with delayed growth and disrupted harvests. Most shippers are quoting 2-3 weeks out before we will see this volume ramp up significantly and that projection is dependent on favorable weather.
Florida production is still several weeks away and projected to begin around the end of November, beginning of December. This current supply gap is projected to last for 3-5 more weeks.
MARKET UPDATES... 
Blueberries - Prices remain high as availability is still limited. South America and Mexico have struggled with inclement weather that has affected both production and quality of shipments bound for the US over the past several weeks. Growers have been shipping less fruit overall due to the amount of fruit being discarded because of poor quality. Depending on the weather, we could see production and supply issues all the way through Thanksgiving. We should see more blueberries arriving from Chile at that time which will help with overall supply.
Broccoli - Demand exceeds supply. Expect this market to gain strength throughout the week. Yuma has not begun production as of yet. Crown production will be light all week. Broccoli issues will include yellow beading, hollow core, pin rot, light green color, as well as a rubbery texture. The main production continues to be out of the Salinas Valley, with light production in Southern California. This will continue for the rest of the week. There continues to be production in Mexico as well as McAllen. Yuma will not have production until approximately Thanksgiving. There is light production on crowns in Phoenix.
Cauliflower - Pricing looks to rise steadily throughout this week, as demand will exceed supplies. This market continues to gain strength. Escalated pricing is in effect. Yuma will not begin production until approximately after Thanksgiving. Salinas and Santa Maria are the main growing regions associated with this commodity currently. The overall quality is reported to have slight spotting sporadically. Heavy rains earlier in the week has altered production severely.
Kale - Overall quality continues to be strong; pricing is expected to be competitive for the entire week. Demand is higher, expect light demand by the first of next week.
Lemons - Demand remains very good. The Desert crop is 30% lighter
in volume than last years. This crop is producing a larger proportion of fancy grade and is peaking on 140s and larger fruit, which is in good availability with market easing off a bit, but still leaving us in a demand exceed supplies on 165s and smaller fruit. Expect this shortage on smaller fruit to continue through January.
Oranges - All shippers have begun packing this year's California Navel crop. Volumes will continue to pick up.
Iceberg Lettuce - Demand continues to exceed supplies. Escalated pricing is in effect including value added items. Production in Salinas is finished. Santa Maria and Yuma production is limited. Huron has finished production. Seeder and light weights are the big issues in all the growing regions. Quality issues include small and irregular head size, lightweights, seeder, decay, puffiness, insect damage and internal burn. The defects are directly related to past and current high temperatures. Defects are industry-wide and will continue
throughout the month.
Leaf Lettuce - Demand exceeds supply. There continues to be light production in Huron and Yuma on romaine. The quality issues continue in all the growing regions. These issues include fringe burn, small and irregular sizing, insects, dehydration, seeder and internal burn. Green and red leaf are active as well. Fringe burn, mildew damage, internal burn and insect pressure continue to be defects associated with these commodities. There are light supplies of green and red leaf in Yuma. Butter will continue to be very light in availability all week. This is industry-wide. There will continue to be gaps in pricing among the different shippers on all leaf items. Salinas is all but finished in production by the middle of this week.
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