MARKET UPDATE WEEK # 50

Good Afternoon, Happy almost Holidays everyone! There is no better sign of the Holiday Season than the aroma of FRESH CHRISTMAS TREES and CINNAMON BROOMS hitting the loading dock. After a few weeks of sweater weather, things are starting to heat up slightly. Down here in Florida, warmer temps are starting to allow early harvests to progress through growth cycles. We are just a few days into this warm cycle and will have to see over the next week how production will be affected.

BABY SQUASH, RAINBOW CARROTS, and other specialties are flown in from GUATEMALA weekly. The demand on these items is huge through the holiday season. Unfortunately, HEAVY RAIN down in Guatemala has slowed supply lines and the market is basically wiped out! Large orders will continue to be tough to come by for at least the next few weeks.

The COLD weather of the past month in Mexico has slowed down COLORED BELL PEPPER production. RED PEPPER has been slow to mature, leaving most of the crop sitting in the fields, still green. GREEN BELL PEPPER should see some improvement with the warm weather in Florida this week. YELLOW and ORANGE BELLS do not seem to be as scarce as their red counterpart.

LETTUCE and LEAF demand is getting softer! The Holiday demand has passed giving supply some time to catch up. Over in ARIZONA, CAULIFLOWER and CELERY markets are getting a bit tight. We are into FL CELERY so that shouldn't be a problem, however, we are still a few weeks removed from FL CAULIFLOWER. We are anticipating CELERY markets to come DOWN and CAULIFLOWER to go UP into next week.

GRAPES continue to move through TRANSITION. GREEN SEEDLESS are seeing a tougher time than reds but both varieties are struggling. PERUVIAN fruit is trickling into South Florida and will be followed by CHILEAN crops. The hope is that we will see stronger arrivals on imports by the end of the month, which should loosen up markets.

IMPORT MELONS are flowing into S Florida. SMALLER SIZING is limited but this should get better over the next few weeks. Overall, the import melon market is healthy.

TOMATOES are struggling with the recent weather in N Florida. Farms in Southern Florida have yet to accrue decent supplies while North Florida supply diminishes. FOB's are on the rise, but we should see some relief later this month.

Keep an eye out for this week's Weekly Fresh!

Parker Tannehill