Good afternoon,
A happy but hectic holiday season to all! As we scramble to shuffle our schedules in an effort to be prepared for the steady disruptions ahead, we want to take a moment to be thankful to our incredible clients who allow us to be this busy! Through the early mornings and late nights, we are grateful for the opportunities and look forward to working through these challenging weeks together!
Due to the abbreviated schedule for the Christmas and New Year holidays, we can use your help to create the most clear and efficient way forward. For your containers sailing the week of DECEMBER 21-26th, WE ASK THAT ALL VENDOR FREIGHT BE DELIVERED NO LATER THAN DECEMBER 19th.
We understand this may be a challenge for many so we have opened up receiving for the weekend by appointment only. Please make a point to contact your vendors and inform them of this schedule change. We will be unable to receive outside products on Monday and Tuesday December 22nd and 23rd, as all of our doors will be used for outbound freight.
STRAWBERRY VOLUMES are on the rise! Conditions have been ideal here in the Sunshine State and that looks to continue into next week. Florida berries will not be like the DRISCOLL EXPORTS out of California in terms of size and shape but they will certainly be the best option for EXPORT QUALITY moving forward. Our growers harvest the fruit and send it to us the next day, providing the freshest possible fruit for the year!
IMPORT GRAPE prices are HIGH but they are the best option as California supplies are struggling late in the season. California GREENS are done as quality took a sharp turn for the worse. There are some domestic RED SEEDLESS around but they are better left locally. The cheaper option is tempting but there are not many domestic grapes left that will make a transit across the country, let alone overseas!
GREEN ONION supplies are very tight due to rain events in Mexico.This trend will continue for the next several weeks it seems.
CELERY is in a similar position as Southern California fields have been rained out on and off over the last few weeks. Florida product should start soon, but for this week loading, orders are being cut heavily and pricing is elevated.
LETTUCE, ROMAINE, ROMAINE HEART, and LEAFY GREEN markets are all falling to near normal seasonal levels! After a LONG transition featuring everything from rain, heat, cold, and wind, we can finally see the other side. Quality is still a challenge, especially on ICEBERG, but we have been able to source GREAT product out of Florida to cover.
More as it happens,
Parker Tannehill