The Source - August 1, 2016

Washington - Red delicious are steady on all sizes. Most shippers continue to peak on extra-fancy 72-88s. Golden delicious are steady and they peaking on Wash-Extra 100/113s but many shippers are finished for the season. Earli-Gold and Ginger-golds are starting. Granny Smith are steady on most sizes and continue to peak on 88-113s. New-crop Galas are limited but are peaking on higher grade 11/88/113s. The quality for C.A. reds, goldens, and granny-smith has been good.
California - Galas are steady and they are still peaking on smaller fruit but supplies are light. The quality is good.
Chile - Chilean Braeburns are have cleaned up. Chilean Pinks Ladys are steady but only 70s are available. Chilean Fujis are also steady and peaking on 80-size with more sizes available this week. The Chilean fruit availability is generally better on the east coast. The import quality has been good.

Volume from Mexico and Peru are lower. Quality is good from both regions.

California harvest is in its seasonal decline. Harvest volumes are expected to decline significantly this next week. Southern groves are in clean up picking and northern groves are picking early and heavy to get fruit off the tree and take advantage of the market and for the health of the trees. Crop is still skewed towards smaller fruit. Market on 48s and larger remain strong with 60s and 70sweakening due to increased volumes of smaller fruit from Mexico.

Mexico has backed off slightly on their harvest after a huge harvest week 3 weeks ago. Inventories are growing, and Mexico's harvest has slowed in response to dropping and unstable market pricing

Bell pepper has moved up to the Central and Southern San Joaquin Valley. Better supply on both Green and Red Varieties, Sizing is good on Both colors.
Reds are still showing the effects of the heat with some condition defects, quality is expected to improve as we move forward. Extreme high temps have dropped in California.
Yellow pepper has slightly improved supply with better quality.

Supply is steady with production out of CA, OH, IN, WA and OR. Some growers are gapping and in between varieties out of Oregon. Some deals are being made on the Santa Maria blackberries in order to bring traffic down to load them. Quality is good out of all areas. There have been some isolated instances of wet and leaky berries, also reports of red cell.

Supply is lighter than recent weeks and markets have strengthened from all growing regions. The Pacific Northwest production in Oregon, British Columbia and Washington has backed off some due to recent rainy weather. We do not expect this seasonal crop to ramp back up although we will see some late variety Elliot from Washington in a few weeks. Michigan was slow to start again this week due to rain in the Southwestern growing districts and Indiana is producing blueberries steadily. South American blues are about a month away and will start with light volume around the first of September.

Transitions:
Peru, Argentina and Uruguay blueberries should begin to hit US ports with light volume around the first of September.

Supply and availability have improved over recent weeks. Quality has remained good out of all regions, some isolated instances of wet, leaky or off-color berries.

Supply is steady with good demand. Quality is good with pickers paying extra attention to pack quality and avoid bruised and overripe fruit. There have been a few reports of white shoulders and green tips still showing up in the packs. Sizing is small with berries running 18-26 per 1 pound clamshell. Although there are still a lot of berries in the fields and a lot of flowers indicating more fruit coming, it is taking more berries to fill each clamshell and requiring pickers to cover more ground to do so. Lack of labor is an issue with growers in all growing regions. Weather forecast for this week is ideal for berries with highs in the low-mid 70s and overnights cooling down around 50 degrees.

Transitions:
Santa Maria new Fall crop (Summer-planted) strawberries are expected to begin harvests the first couple weeks of August.

Broccoli supplies are abundant. The market will be aggressive all week with suppliers offering deals in all growing regions. The quality out of Salinas and Santa Maria is excellent with nice crown size and minimal yellowing. Mexico is showing minimal hallow core and quality is nice as well.

Brussel Sprout supplies are tightening up with Mexico finishing up this week. Salinas and Oxnard are feeling the pinch with their acreage. This is causing the market to trend higher. Quality out of California is excellent but quality out of Mexico is fair at best with black discoloration upon arrivals.

The Bakersfield crop is in full production. Growth is good and producing good percentage of Jumbo size and supplies are good. Supply of baby peeled carrots are good.

There are plenty of supplies for this week in both growing regions this week. Lack of demand has kept supplies steady and markets aggressive. Quality form both Salinas and Santa Maria has been really nice with few issues upon arrival.

Good supplies and lack of demand has this market flat. The best availability continues on twenty- four counts. There are no orders being rejected for any sizing. Thirty-six count and smaller is less abundant. Expect flex pricing to be common throughout the week with many shippers. Production in Michigan is stronger, with supplies heavier to large sizing. Quality overall continues to be strong. Salinas and Santa Maria continue to produce heavy supplies of this commodity and all offers are being considered. If suppliers have a strong week, pricing may ramp up next week with schools starting up.

Anaheim - Sizing and quality remain good. Good volume coming out of the San Joaquin Valley . Excellent size and color.

Pablano - Good quality and condition expected to continue.

Tomatillo - Good supply of tomatillo shipping from California. Good color and fresh husk . Good quality over all on tomatillos.

Jalapeno- good quality on new crop pepper, mostly large sizing with good color.

Supplies from Mexico are extremely limited to a few suppliers. So the pressure continues to be on Oxnard, Santa Maria, and Salinas. Black spotting, yellowing, burn, and seeders are the current quality issues we are experiencing.

Alerts:
Cilantro supplies continue to be limited with elevated markets.

The Ventura crop is our main supplier of domestic fruit. Demand is stronger than normal and continues to build. We are seeing 140s/165s/200s/235s supplies tighten clean up daily. Chilean fruit is available is good supplies.

Lime supplies are tightening, markets reacting upward. Rains in growing area is slowing harvest. Quality is falling off and shippers are having to rerun many lots to clean up the pack. More wet weather is in the forecast.

Shippers have good supplies of Valencias and peaking on 88s/113s/138s. Demand for 113s and 138s is high and increasing as school demand continues to ramp up over the next few weeks.

Good quality and condition on cucumbers coming out of Northern Baja coast. All sizes are being packed in 1 1/9 bushel boxes. Also 24's-36's-42's being packed. Color and condition are just fair due to hotter temps.

With temperature's dropping, eggplant is showing improvement in quality and condition. Fresno showing good quality with limited supply. Cosmetic issues with eggplant are improving.

Green grape supplies are excellent. We have several varieties to choose from with different price levels available depending on size. Currently, Thompson, Princess and Ivory varieties are available to load out of the San Joaquin Valley. Quality on all varieties has been strong, but the Thompsons have had the most amber color. Ivory is the largest size profile with good color, but is also the most expensive. There is a green grape available for any size and quality spec needed.

Red grapes continue to be in good supplies. The Flame variety is still the main harvest this week. Quality has been strong and larger sizes are available. Market prices have been very steady with little movement up or down over the last two weeks. Scarlet Royal variety grapes are just getting started with a handful of shippers. Availability is still limited and market prices have been much higher than Flames. As production numbers increase on the Scarlet Royals, we expect to see the prices between the two varieties level out. Jumbo buy opportunities are available.

Supplies remain abundant from both growing regions. There also have been minimal quality complaints upon arrival. The market will be aggressive all week with deals on iced green onions.

Kale supplies are steady from all growing regions. The market will be steady this week as well. there have been minimal complaints of dehydration, size of the bunches, and yellowing upon arrival. Quality has been excellent.

School business will inevitably increase demand in the marketplace. Schools look to start next week, and then the following weeks more and more will follow. With that being said, this market has started out steady to begin the week. There continues to be a gap in pricing and expect this to continue throughout the week. Warm and cool weather has caused for some deficiencies with this commodity. Common defects include mechanical, puffiness, insect damage and misshapen heads. Expect this market to get stronger by the end of the week.

Excellent availability continues out of northern and southern California on all leaf items to start the week. Supplies are expected to be strong throughout the week. Red, green , butter leaf and romaine are commodities that have all shippers flexing. Some common defects include insect damage due to warm temperatures, fringe burn and mechanical damage. Expect this market to gain strength next week as school business will start to kick in. Many suppliers, however are looking to keep inventories clean.

There are really good supplies coming out of the West Side. All sizes are available. Sugar levels are really good right now too. The markets are aggressive even with the increased demand for summer.

The West Side has plenty of supplies of honeydews. All sizes are available. Sugar levels are optimum. The market remains aggressive and competitive. Quality is excellent.

Demand for Western Watermelon has curtailed. Watermelon is being shipped from Southern and Central California. Quality is good with mostly Large sizes being harvested. Extreme heat has increased the sizing to mostly very large fruit,30s,36 and 45s. Low production of watermelon still coming out of Arizona and showing light color.

Central California - Supplies have hit peak production a few weeks ago and are slowly winding down for the season with a few growers dropping out each week. The season should finish for the season by the end of August. The hundred degree weather over the last few weeks has hurt the quality with a few issues showing up in some of the packs. Demand is fair to moderate with a slightly weaker market.
New Mexico - Demand is moderate to fair depending on size and color. Supplies are starting to wind down for the season and should finish close to California which is the end of August. Market is steady. Supplies of Colossal and Super Colossal yellow onions are still very limited with a firm market. Quality is being reported as good.
Washington - Demand is moderate with a steady market. Transplants are still being harvested with direct seeded onions only a week or so away. Quality is fair but will bet better in the next couple of weeks.
Idaho - Only a few growers have started harvesting yellow onions this week with limited supplies. Quality and sizing is fair to good. Red onions harvest will start in the next couple of weeks. Growing conditions have been ideal up until this last week with temperatures hitting into the mid 90's which will slow down growth.

California - Bartlett pears are steady on all wraps while the tight-fills are steady to slightly lower, and continue to peak on 100/110/90s. The smaller 135/150s are very limited, in fact suppliers don't have any. The quality has been good. Crimson pears are steady and continue to peak on half carton 45/40s but supplies are limited, and some suppliers have already finished. The quality has been good.
Washington - Bartlett pears are peaking on 90/100s and the market is steady to lower but supplies are still limited. The quality is good.
Chile - Chilean Bosc continue to peak on 70-100s but supplies are limited. The quality has been good.

Supplies are dropping from the tropics and are going to be significantly lighter for August and possibly into September.

Idaho- 2015 Burbank storage crop is coming to end and will finish with most growers by the end of this week. I think everyone is ready to move on to the New Crop Norkotah's which have started in a small way the end of last week. Sizing and quality of these first fields is good. Market is getting a slight premium over the old storage crop. As all shippers transition into Norkotah's over the next two weeks, we should see the market get slightly weaker on most sizes with #2's staying firm and close to the #1 pricing.
Washington - Demand is supplies are moderate with a steady market. Sizing is peaking on 70 count. Quality is being reported as good.
Colorado/Wisconsin - Both growing areas are fighting size with new crop and peaking on 100 count and smaller. They are reporting this will change as they switch fields later this week. Quality is being reported as good.

Stockton California - reds and whites are steady on all sizes while golds are higher and limited. All colors are peaking on A size but bakers and premiums are limited. The quality is good for reds and whites while the golds have been fair.
Virginia - They are steady to higher on all colors but supplies are light. The quality has been fair.
Muleshoe Texas - red potatoes are steady on all sizes with good quality. The supplies have been light.
Minnesota - red potatoes are steady to slightly lower. The quality has been good with nice color and a good skin-set.
Wisconsin - the red potato market is steady to slightly lower and the availability is improving as they now have A-size available but are still heavier to Bs. The quality is good.
Washington - eastern red and gold potatoes are steady and both are peaking on A-size. The quality is good.

Heavy production on both zucchini and yellow squash are being offered in volume. Sizing is mostly larger due to warm weather. Quality is mostly good but some scarring on certain lots.

Stone fruit continues to be readily available, but all sizes are large. Volume fill small fruit is very limited and prices have stayed firm. Nectarines and peaches are being packed in sizes 56 and larger. Plums are available in a size 60 and larger. Apricots remain limited. Quality overall has been steady and market prices have been level.

Fair demand and scattered supplies are causing the market to go relatively unchanged this week. Eastern tomato growing areas are spread out with a majority of harvest coming out of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. Alabama and Michigan are expected to bring fruit to market this week helping inject more volume into the supply line. Round and roma quality are good in the eastern shore and improving in Tennessee. North Carolina’s is experiencing some challenges in the crop from hot and humid climates and consistent afternoon showers. The Grape tomato market remains saturated this week and high production yields have prices depressed with some of the best quality coming from Virginia’s Eastern shore. The cherry market remains stable and may fluctuate a bit in price by growing region. Overall pricing is steady looking forward into next week.

In the west, the weather is hot and the market is strong. Mature green crops in California and romas out of Baja are both suffering through high temperature exposure and slowing harvest schedules resulting in slight uptick to price this week. Romas remain limited, but the price is adjusting downward because the market was pushed too high as shippers got over zealous at the onset of last week raising the market too high. Similar to the east, there are plenty of grape tomatoes with several growing regions in both Mexico and California.