The Source - June 4, 2015

New York is still packing light volume of Red Delicious and Red Romes. Both varieties are steady and continue to peak on larger fruit. The New York shippers expect to pack through this week and possibly through next.
Michigan is still packing Jonathans, McIntosh, Red Delicious, and Red Romes. The Red Romes and Red Delicious are still peaking on 100's and larger while the Jonathans and McIntosh are peaking on 100's and smaller. The red delicious and Red Romes are still the bulk of Michigans volume. Availability is generally light for all varieties.
Washington is quoting steady on Red Delicious. There is still price-flex on volume orders of 80's and larger. Most packers are still peaking on 88's and larger in the premium and Washington extra #1 grades and are short on 100's and smaller. Golden Delicious are steady on all sizes. 125 and smaller Goldens are more limited than the other sizes. Granny-Smith are steady and are still peaking on 72's and larger. Granny 100's and smaller remain very short. Fujis are steady to higher and are peaking on the larger sizes. The Fuji volume is starting to drop as the end of the season approaches. Small Fujis remain extremely short. Galas steady to higher and are still peaking on 88/100's. The Galas have better availability in the smaller sizes than most other varieties but the Gala volume is all lower as the end of the season is closing in. There are various sizes and grades of certain varietals like Braeburns and Jonagolds left, but the volume is very limited as they are almost finished for the season.

Peruvian product continues to be the best deal available. FOB pricing directly out of Miami will be better in comparison to California and Mexico product. All sizing is available, with jumbo availability lighter. Loading in Southern California is an option as well. Mexican production is moderate. Seeders have become an issue in this region. Standard and large sizing are the main packs available on eleven pound cases for Mexican grass. California production is light and commands the highest pricing.

California growers continue to harvest good volume. They are peaking on 60's and smaller, with 48's and larger still limited in harvest. We hope to see crop fill in with a broader range of sizing as we move through June. Overall volume of this year's California crop looks to be lighter than first projected due to the drought. Quality and flavor are both very good.

Mexico is over 90% harvested for their season. Good supplies continue to come in, and still heavy to 60's and smaller. 48's are showing improvement in availability. Quality and flavor are at their peak.

Mexico growing area has finished for the season. California continues to come on, and is slowly gaining speed as each weeks moves on. Quality is good. Market has firmed slightly. Georgia growing is getting close to peaking. Quality is really good, and both color and flavor is excellent. Market is steady to slightly weaker out of this area.

The main blueberry growing areas currently are California, Georgia and North Carolina. California is starting to wind down with Oregon about 7 days out before they start harvesting. That will be followed by Washington and New Jersey. Quality out of all areas is good. Market steady to slightly lower depending on growing area.

Transitions:
North Carolina just started to harvest their Blueberries

Peak Seasons:
Georgia blueberry growers are in Peak Season

Mexico production has finally come to an end, and California will continue to slowly increase week by week. Market has firmed slightly with good quality fruit being harvested.

Central California is the main growing area with production being close to hitting peak volumes. Sizing is still large at 14-16 count per clam shell. The seasonably cooler than normal weather has help maintain this larger size and firmness. Berries are sweet and flavorful. Quality is good. The light demand and weak market has some growers putting some of their production into the Freezer market which has firmed the market slightly.

Peak Seasons:
Salinas/Watsonville growers are close to Peak volumes

Supplies are stronger on this commodity, especially with crowns. Shippers are listening to offers as demand has slowed up. Although there has been a bit of branchy and purple casting reported on this commodity, the overall quality has been good. The main production continues to be out of the Salinas Valley. Crowns are expected to be moderate to good for the rest of the week. Bunched product will have less availability in comparison to crowns. Santa Maria will have decent production as well. Production in Mexico looks to be steady for the rest of the week, with crowns being more readily available.

Bakersfield crop is now fully up and going. Size is fair, improving quickly. Jumbo size carrot supplies are starting to come back into better supply.

Demand is off and shippers are listening to offers. The quality has picked up with most suppliers. The yellowing and insect damage that was seen on this commodity in past weeks has for the most part gone away. Supplies will be good throughout the week with most suppliers. Santa Maria and Salinas are the main growing regions currently.

This market has firmed up. Loading in Oxnard/Santa Maria continues to give the best fob price. Small sizing continues to demand a higher FOB price. Harvesting in Salinas is expected to begin in mid to late June. The overall quality down South is being reported as good. A few issues of bowing and insects have arisen, but these have been minimal complaints. The overall quality is good.

Demand exceeds supply for cherries out of Washington. Weather related issues have hurt the early harvest and current pack outs are showing as much as 25% culls when the fruit is run. That being said, the fruit that is being packed is reported to be the best quality in many years (also due to the weather and growing conditions). The Rainier harvest has begun in a light way and is projected to hit it's first peak of the season the week of June 8.

Size curve of the crop is peaking on 140's and smaller. Demand is exceeding supplies on all sizes and grades of fruit. Very good demand and drought conditions in growing areas producing less fruit and no size growth are the major factor for the demand exceed conditions.

Alerts:
LEMONS:
Demand exceeds supply. Summertime demand and lighter production caused by the California drought. Expect lighter supplies throughout the summer and into the fall.

The lime market continues to come down on the larger sizes. The smaller sizes are holding pretty steady with a hint of upside in the prices from some shippers. Supplies are increasing on larger sizes now and decreasing slightly on smaller sizes. Lower prices have helped spur demand on all sizes. The overall quality is very good on the new crop that is being harvested.

California Navel crop is rapidly dropping off and peaking on 72's/56's. There will be some larger Navels available through June. California Valencia oranges are going in good volume. Labor to pick the fruit has become an issue now with the labor force being spilt with the stone fruit harvest going as well. Quality on Valencias is very good, color is nice and brix are 12.5 - 14.00 average.

The green seedless market is steady out of all growing regions. The Mexican harvest is shifting from Perlettes to Sugarones as the primary variety available. The Coachella region continues to ship excellent quality in volumes sufficient to meet current demand. Early estimates are for the Arvin district to begin shipping in a light way the week of June 22.

The red seedless grape market out of Mexico is firming up off of the bottom as the Sonora region winds down and the cooler inventories clean up. The Caborca region has started in a light way. Overall, the Mexican red market looks like it will strengthen on price but not to excessive levels. The red seedless market out of Coachella is about steady as the Flame seedless crop gives way to Scarlets over the next seven to ten days.

This market is steady with all suppliers. Demand continues to be extremely light. Most of the production for this commodity continues to be produced from the Baja region of Mexico. Supplies will be strong throughout the week. All sizing is available. Light supplies are being harvested in Salinas. The heavier abundance of product is coming in small and medium size packs.

This market is firm. The Salinas Valley continues to produce the bulk of the lettuce supplies. Puffiness, insect damage and ribbing has been reported as common defects on this commodity currently. Weights on palletized lettuce are ranging from 42-46 pounds. Demand has eased up. Expect steady supplies for the rest of the week. Demand will dictate later in the week how much the market will climb. For now, things are steady.

The romaine market is active. Quality issues include tip burn, wind burn, decay and mildew. These are are common defects with this commodity, especially in the Salinas Valley. The weights will be 31-34 pounds. These same issues are also evident in green and red leaf items. Green leaf continues to be on escalated pricing. Supplies are expected to be light to moderate throughout the week, depending on the shipper. There continues to be gaps in pricing throughout the marketplace. Romaine will get stronger throughout the week, while green and red leaf is expected to get softer.

The desert is harvesting good numbers cantaloupes currently with the peak size being 12's. Good supplies and quality look to continue for the next few weeks as the desert peaks in production. Very nice quality is coming out of the desert . The market has stabilized and has a hint of upside in it right now especially on 9's. The "west side" is set to start the first week of July.

Supplies out of Mexico are at low levels with 6's and 8's being the main sizes coming in. The desert has decent supplies with increased supplies slowly coming onboard. The dews are excellent quality and are commanding a premium to the product from Mexico. The quality on Mexican and domestic dews are very nice and they all have high sugar contents too. The peak size is 6's on the domestic dews coming in right now. The dew market is steady on all domestic and Mexican dews while deals are being made on the final bits of lower quality offshore product.

The two main growing areas are Huron, California and New Mexico which both just started harvesting this week. Sizing is starting out small with New Mexico peaking on Medium and California peaking between medium and jumbos. Both areas are packing very limited numbers of Colossal and Super Colossal yellows this week. Size should improve as we get into next week. Market is steady due to light demand. If demand picks up this market could get active for about 7 to 10 days. Quality is being reported as good.

Washington continues to ship D'anjous and a few red pears . The D'anjous are peaking on US#1 80-100's while fancy-grade supplies are limited in all sizes. The red pears are peaking on 50/55 half-cartons. The markets for both colors are steady.
On the import side we still have Chilean Packhams and Bosc and Argentinian Packhams and Bosc. The markets for all are steady and the Chilean fruit is cheaper on all sizes. With California fruit coming in 5 weeks the importers want to keep the Chilean fruit moving. The Chilean Packhams are peaking on 100's and the Argentinian are peaking on 90's and larger. The Chilean Bosc are heavier to 100/110's while the Argentinian Bosc are producing mostly 90's and larger.
California is set to start packing new crop Bartlett pears the week of July 6th.

The potato market is steady out of all growing areas (Idaho, Washington, Colorado, Wisconsin) with light to moderate demand. Large cartons are still limited out of Idaho (40-60 count). This was due to the heavy rains during the growing season. Quality is being reported as good.

Alerts:
Idaho large cartons still limited on 40-60 count

Bakersfield, California is still packing all colors and they are all peaking on A-size. The California market is steady on all sizes and colors the availability is good with the exception of premiums and Bakers. Expect the Gold market to be up slightly next week as more east coast demand shifts to the west coast. The quality has been good.
Phoenix, Arizona continues to pack reds and golds and they will continue through June. The markets for both colors are steady and they are peaking on A-size. The quality has been good.
Pearsall, Texas red potatoes are steady and are also peaking on A-size. The quality has been good.
Northern Florida (Hastings) is also packing all colors. The Red market is down slightly on A-size and up slightly on B-size due to a larger size profile. The white market is being quoted as steady but there is good availability and some volume deals on all sizes. Gold supplies are light and the market is high and strong. Some supplies suppliers are reporting only fair quality. The Florida red and white quality has been good.

The stone fruit markets are about steady with sizing being the determining factor in price. We are experiencing a slight shift to better quantities of large sized fruit in the peach and nectarine crops. This has allowed the pricing on this fruit to adjust down. The plum and pluot harvests continue to increase with quantities of excellent fruit. Pricing on the smaller sized fruit has dropped off slightly with the increase in volume and light demand. The apricot market has adjusted down slightly but still maintains a very good price point with sizing running heavier to the smaller 84/88 2 layers.

Rounds - The growers in Palmetto/Ruskin region are in their last week of production before they finish up for the season. The early planting heat caused the product to mature up a couple weeks. Which caused the jump in supply a couple weeks ago. This is also the reason for the now scarce product. Florida will continue to have limited supplies on all sizes until the northern region finds its stride. Although there is some availability north it will not be in full swing until the beginning of next week.

Romas - The Romas are falling in line with the rounds. The season is winding down and transitioning to the north. Prices have also risen and availability will continue to fall until the northern region pick it up at the beginning of next week. Quality will become more of issue as well.

Cherry/Grape - The cherry and grape markets have remained steady for the past week. Product in the north has come on and is finding its stride. Pricing should hold steady for both grape and cherry toms.

- Gregory Lane

Rounds - Product in Mexico is available but may tighten with Florida products rising prices and shrinking availability. Mexico production will continue to increase and quality is good so the market should hold steady. Central California product has become available but is just starting and some may be hesitant to be the first. California desert product is finishing up and is expected to pull the plug at the end of this week.

Romas - Northern Mexico product is of good quality and availability. Availability should remain steady with additional growers coming on. California fruit will start in a few weeks in the South.

Cherry/Grape - Northern Mexico product availability is good and quality is good on grape toms. This product is expected to take us in the end of the year. With the east transitioning and Nogales finishing up this region will be leaned upon heavily. Although central Mexico product going into Texas is consistent and the quality is good. Look for the market to remain steady to a slight increase due to increases in demand.