Good afternoon,
The fallout from the Florida freeze continues. BELL PEPPER and CORN remain scarce this week as supplies have yet to recover. ROMA, GRAPE, CHERRY and ROUND TOMATOES are faced with the same challenges and are seeing similar market activity.
Higher grade RED and YELLOW BELL PEPPER out of Mexico are limited. The change of the season has already hit our neighbors to the south, with high levels of heat leading to significant crop loss. Compounding the issue, growers are harvesting the RED PEPPERS early to catch the elevated pricing for green bell peppers.
The heatwave out west has pushed us into the earliest transition we can recall. Growers packed up and headed North for this week as the quality down in Yuma was not worth the production costs. Luckily, BROCCOLI and CAULIFLOWER came on early this season so there is a good amount of supply up north.
LETTUCE and ROMAINE usually transition around a month after cauliflower and broccoli but with the recent warming trend out west, it's no surprise there is already ICEBERG in HURON and ROMAINE in Salinas! A full lineup of product in the northern valley this early in the year is unprecedented, but these rare conditions have become more of the norm of recent.
CARROTS have at least another 4 weeks of elevated markets as several growing regions are finished up early for the season. Mexican CARROTS will be our main supply as we move closer to May and we likely won't see relief in pricing until Califlornia catches up sometime in late April.
SMALL GALA APPLES like 175's and 198's are finished from all but one or two growers in Michigan. Luckily, our partners in Michigan are going to be one of the only companies with inventory to cover orders through to the new crop in August. Use your small GALA fruit to your advantage as they will be a hot commodity for the next few months!
More as it happens,
Parker Tannehill