Good afternoon,
LIMES are readily available out of MX bringing down pricing to incredibly low levels! Sizing is peaking around the 150 mark, making smaller fruit a little more scarce but still in good supply.
NAVEL ORANGES are now the main variety coming out of California. Valencia's are available here and there but not in any substantial quantity or good quality. We are seeing predominantly smaller size fruit early on in the Navel season with 113CT sizing and smaller with better availability. Markets are softer now and should remain that way barring any major weather events. There is a good amount of rain in California this week but it should not cause too much trouble for ORANGES.
DESERT fields ramp up as the California storms start rolling in. Production is starting to improve out of Yuma, Arizona on LETTUCE and ROMAINE but the uncertainty of late season availability in Salinas and Huron has held the market in place for another week. Although things are looking cloudy in the Salinas Valley for the week ahead, there are plenty of bright spots leading to the end of this dreaded transition.
BRUSSELS SPROUTS are going to be very limited for the next few weeks as rain is expected in the Salinas Valley this weekend. Sprouts still have another several weeks in the Salinas valley, and OXNARD production is very light for this commodity, so we expect the effects of the transition to linger for a while longer after these rains pass through.
CELERY markets also tightened up this week as supplies out of Salinas decline. We should see Florida CELERY start up around the first week of December.
The same rains have GRAPE growers pulling in their inventory as fast as they can. There will be a clear separation in quality in the weeks ahead as what growers packed up before the rains and who attempted to pack fruit after. Pricing will be the easiest tell, where we always say in the late season, if it's too good to be true it probably is. IMPORTED GRAPES are right around the corner, so we will know about if there will be overlap or a gap in supply later this month.
Frost in the Southeastern US and Mexico is impacting ROMA/ROUND and GRAPE TOMATO availability. ROUND TOMATOES, like 5x6 etc.., have started up in Florida so we aren't seeing adverse market conditions like we are on the romas and grapes. We should see product ease its way into FL over the coming weeks, settling the volatility.
More as it happens,
Parker Tannehill