MARKET UPDATE 04.17.26

Good afternoon,

Back in late March when the California veg transition began, we projected that the early surplus of availability would catch up with us once Arizona finished. Unfortunately, we were correct!

BROCCOLI, CAULIFLOWER, and ICEBERG markets are on the rise. Supplies are EXTREMELY limited particularly on CAULIFLOWER and LETTUCE with only fair quality being reported. As ROMAINE and BROCCOLI markets trend higher, their partners ICEBERG and CAULIFLOWER, have shot up significantly from one week to the next due to a nearly complete lack of availability.

WARM weather and heat on the west coast is part to blame for the supply issues we are seeing out of Salinas. Conditions are also playing a major factor on STRAWBERRIES from the same region. Harvest crews this week should see slightly cooler temperatures, hopefully leading to a more consistent pack.

PEACHES are starting up out of California, a sign that we are starting the summer stone fruit season!

CHERRIES are also starting in a light way. The first few lots will be kept on the west coast as the early Tioga variety will not hold for longer than a few days. For export, we expect to ship the first bags around the end of April and clamshells the first week of May. PEAK VOLUME, which also means a drop in price, is expected to hit during the weeks of May 10 and 17th.

FINALLY, new plantings of PEPPER and EGGPLANT are ready for picking out of Florida. Inventories are just getting going so markets are slowly easing but we have at last reached the other side of the freeze!

More as it happens,

Parker Tannehill