The Source - June 7, 2017

Washington - red delicious are slightly higher on all sizes. Most fruit is still large and is peaking on 80/88s and the smaller sizes remain limited. Golden delicious are steady but strong due to light supplies esp. on the smaller sizes. Golden delicious continue to peak on 72/80/88s. Granny-smith are steady to higher on all sizes again due to light supplies and strong demand. The fruit is still peaking on 72/80/88s. The availability of 88s and smaller is extremely light and most suppliers continue to sub up in size and grade just to cover business. Galas are steady on 113s and larger while 125/138s are higher. Galas continue to peak on 72/80/88s and the smaller sizes are very short. Fuji's are higher on all sizes and are still peaking on 64/72/80/88s. Fuji supplies are still very light esp. on 113s and smaller. The quality for all varieties has been good.
Michigan--Red Delicious are steady on all sizes and the demand has been relatively light. Reds are still expected to remain into mid to late June. The quality has been good.
New York---Red delicious are steady to higher on the larger fruit and mostly higher on the smaller sizes due to light supplies. New York should continue packing into June but they still aren't much of a factor. The quality has been good.
Chile--there are some Chilean Pink Ladys, Fujis, Galas, and Granny-smith on the east coast. The Pink Ladys and Granny's are peaking on 90 size and larger while the Fujis and Galas are evenly spread between 70-110s. The quality has ranged by variety.

Alerts:
Washington remains very short on small Granny-smith and Golden delicious apples. Storage numbers are down so expect the markets for both to remain strong.

Peak Seasons:
Washington is still in the peak of its red delicious, golden delicious, and Granny-smith seasons.

We will see rain in Central Mexico over the next 4 days but it should not affect production with temperatures remaing warm. California production remains good with excellent growing weather in the region. Washington State production will slow down some over the next 4 days with rain, and cooler weather in the region. Peruvian production remains unchanged with both regions in full production. We should see production from Michigan for another week due to seasonality out of this region. Overall market is lower due to all 5 regions in production.

Demand for California fruit remains good with all areas reporting excellent quality. We see no real change in California avocado production with volume expected to sustain itself in the 10 to 11 million pound range per week this month. Sizing continues to peak on 48's

The market on Mexican avocados is firm with good demand and slightly lower shipments into the U.S. Last week we saw an estimated 23 million pounds imported with volume tapering off in the coming weeks to an estimated 20 million per week. Quality has been excellent with few problems reported.

The green pepper market is steady with a weaker undertone on jumbo and extra large sizes, large and choice pepper are very steady as demand has continued. Demand for number one retail product has slowed. Quality on green pepper is holding up well even with the spotty rain in the region. Virtually all the supply is coming from Georgia with South Carolina set to start late next week. Georgia is in peak supply now and will continue in good supply through next week. By the middle of the month most growers are reporting their supply will decrease because the plants intended for later planting were used to replace plant killed by the March freeze. By mid June South Carolina will start western supply will increase but we still expect to see a stronger market during that time period.

Peak Seasons:
Green pepper is in peak supply and will be for another week.

Green Bell Pepper are finished in Nogales completely. Green Pepper from Coachella Ca. has also come to a finish this week. The Southern San Joaquin Valley ( Bakersfield ) is just getting started are in limited supply with excellent quality peaking on large and X large sizes. Very little choice ( #2 ) being packed.

Colored Bells ( Red, Yellow and Orange) are finishing in Nogales this week. Good quality and condition are shipping from Coachella Ca, Supply is increased this week due to warmer weather. Quality and sizing have improved. Packing 25# and 15# units Both #1 and #2 grade Warmer weather is expected to continue.

Alerts:
Production on Green Bell pepper is gapping between Coachella Valley and Bakersfield Ca.

Transitions:
Green Bell pepper is transitioning from Southern to Central California.

Blackberry supplies have gradually been improving. Salinas / Watsonville harvest has been increasing weekly and will continue to ramp up over the next several weeks as we approach peak season. Quality is strong with good size and flavor profile. Santa Maria volume has improved as well as we begin this next cycle of harvest. Weather has been favorable and we expect supplies to improve over the next 2 weeks. Quality looks good with dark color and big size. Georgia has now started their harvest on blackberries as well. Harvest has been slow, but is expected to increase moving forward with peak season expected for later this month. Mexico production is trending down and quality has been reported as fair with some soft wet berries. Market prices have a wide range depending on growing and loading region.

Transitions:
Mexico is trending down. Georgia and Santa Maria are just getting started.

Peak Seasons:
Salinas / Watsonville are increasing production with peak expected in the next 2-3 weeks.

Blueberries supplies continue to be in steady out of central California. We expect this area to remain consistent over the next 2 weeks, then gradually decline in production. Quality has been excellent and demand has been strong. Market prices have come down slowly. Mexico production is slowing down with little fruit available. Quality has been fair with some soft and shriveled berries being reported. The Oregon / Washington production is expected to get started late June. On the east coast, Georgia production continues to be slow due to weather, but growers are expecting better availability over the next 2 weeks. North Carolina production has been light but steady. New Jersey is expected to get started by mid June.

Transitions:
Mexico is down trending. Central California is strong this week. Oregon / Washington to start end of June. Georgia and North Carolina are steady but light. New Jersey will start mid June.

Raspberry supplies are finally improving. Starting over the weekend, harvest increased up north. Salinas / Watsonville fields are producing good volumes of high quality fruit. We expect supplies to continue to improve over the 2 weeks as we approach peak harvest for the first cycle of production. Quality is excellent with bright color and firm berries. Market prices have been steady, but will begin to decline this week as more volume becomes available. Look for opportunity buys on volume by the weekend. Mexican fruit I still available, but volume is declining. Quality is fair with soft berries being reported.

Transitions:
Mexican fruit is winding down. Some quality issues being reported.

Peak Seasons:
Salinas / Watsonville is increasing production. Peak harvest is expected over the next 2 weeks for the first cycle.

Strawberry supplies continue to be consistent this week. Weather patterns are similar in all areas. Cool mornings with heavy fog and light drizzle, burning off by mid day an sunny afternoons. As a whole, Santa Maria production has slowed down, but we continue to see steady supplies of berries being harvested on a daily basis. Quality is holding up, but berry sizes are being reported as smaller (20-22ct). Markets have been flat in Santa Maria with occasional spot buy opportunities to move volume. Salinas / Watsonville production continues to increase as we approach peak season mid to late June. Quality is being reported as good with berry sizes being larger (12-14ct). Some of the Salinas varieties will size down over the next 2 weeks. Markets have been steady up north with occasional aggressive buys being offered to move volume.

Transitions:
Santa Maria is slowly winding down and is expected to last through June.

Peak Seasons:
Salinas / Watsonville are approaching peak season this month.

The Salinas valley has had its typical weather patterns allowing supplies to remain unchanged. The market has leveled out and looks to remain steady for the balance of the week. Quality is really nice with vibrant green color, minimal yellowing, good crown size as well.

Supplies continue to be limited coming from Mexico. Quality has been fair at best with yellowing, black decay, and spotting from the ongoing heat in the growing region. We are still 4 weeks away form domestic production here in California. Until then the market will continue to trend at the current higher prices.

Carrots continue to be in good supplies. California regions are producing high volume and nice quality. All packs styles are available.

The cauliflower market is a story of the have and have not's. Supplies and prices vary form shipper to shipper and growing region. The quality has been really nice with few arrival complaints. We have had weights in the 22 to 28 pound range with little yellow to cream color. This will trend through this week.

The celery market is softer with all suppliers. Salinas production is better and Michigan is expected to begin production in a few weeks. Escalated pricing, however is still in effect. Supplies in Oxnard/Santa Maria have picked up as demand has fallen off. The quality overall is good with most shippers. The fifty dollar markets are past us.

Pablano - Excellent size and Quality will continue with new crop in Baja California.

Tomatillo-Much lighter supply and just fair quality, both peeled and husked. Sizing is only fair. Color and condition will continue to be only fair.

Jalapeno- good quality on new crop pepper, Excellent Size color and condition with supply dropping. Some number 2s are being shipped.

Anaheim- good quality, condition and size are expected to continue as supply have improved

Overall supplies have increased from all growing regions. We have seen quality improve as well. Although there have been some sporadic arrivals with yellow to brown leaves in the bunches. The market has finally reached a competitive level. This will trend into next week.

Lemon production in the Ventura region is in full swing. Sizing continues to be the issue with all grades of fruit running predominantly to the larger sizes. This has created a demand exceeds supply market on virtually all foodservice size lemons. This market promises to remain difficult until the Chilean import crop brings some relief. Current projections are for some limited numbers of import fruit to begin arriving around the last week of June. Overall, we project a very difficult supply situation domestically through the summer months.

Limes continue to peak on smaller sizes such as 230's and 250's. 110's through 175's are tight with 110's becoming more available now. New crop limes are smaller in size and due to the lack of rain and hot temperatures they look to remain peaking on the small sizes for several more weeks. Quality has been excellent on the limes over the past several weeks and looks to keep this trend. The market is currently lower on the larger sizes and steady on the smaller sizes.

We have finished the Navel Orange crop and are now running all Valencia's. Quality is reported as good with sizing peaking on the 88's to 113's. Early reports show the fruit grading out about equally between choice and fancy. The market is strong on Valencia's as users switch over from late Navels.

Supers are tight and pricing is ranging from the upper teens to the low 20's. Pack-outs are very poor and selects are running 10-14 dollars less than supers. Georgia and North Carolina are the primary suppliers for the next couple of weeks, with New Jersey starting very light supplies this weekend. Quality in both N.C. and Georgia is spotty Georgia has been working on their crop for awhile and with rain and humid conditions product does not have as good appearance as it did a week ago. North Carolina just started but some product is showing scaring and hail damage from last weeks storms. By late this week and next product should start to look better in North Carolina. North Carolina has a very short window, by the third week June the deal will wind up and New Jersey will be increasing their production.

Alerts:
Weather is causing quality issues with cucumbers.

Transitions:
Georgia will continue for the next 2 weeks but we will start the move up to North Carolina.

Limited supply on cucumber coming out of Nogales Az. excellent supply has also started crossing in Baja California. Excellent color, quality and condition on all grades, sizes and pack styles. Peaking on Super Select.

Florida has just about finished production of eggplant, what product is left is low quality and being kept local. Georgia is not in full production but the volume is picking up and peak availability should be coming by next week. The market has been steady in the mid-teens for a month now and may come down some but volume and demand are fairly close. Quality is very good and the seasonal rains in the region should not cause as many issues as they will for other product. The cloudy conditions could slow production some but otherwise product should be good. We have a good two weeks before any other competing regions will start production.

Peak Seasons:
Moving into peak availability next week.

Eggplant in Nogales has finished, limited supply from Coachella is now available. Quality is good with both number one and number two being offered.

The green grape market is at the bottom or very close to it right now due to good demand. Supplies are stabilizing in Mexico. Coachella volume is coming on slowly. Quality is very nice from both areas. Sizing is picking up now too. The market is lower to steady.

Red grapes are pumping along now out of Mexico and domestic production is ramping up nicely also. Quality is very nice from Mexico and Coachella and berry size is improving too. The grapes are mostly large and getting larger. We have ample supplies to promote with great deals coming up regularly. The market is lower to steady.

We continue to see a steady supply of green onions from Mexico. The market on iced green onions is really competitive, although the iceless packs are much higher in price. Quality has been good with minimal yellow to brown tops of the green onions. We will see steady markets and supplies into next week.

We continue to see steady supplies of kale from all growing regions. Quality is excellent with minimal yellowing, full cartons, dark green color, and minimal dehydration. The markets are also steady at current levels.

Romaine as well as all leaf items are steady. Good supplies exists and shippers are looking to flex in pricing for volume type orders. Romaine in particular has multiple suppliers flexing. Good volume is expected throughout the week. Green and red leaf as well as butter have very minimal demand but good availability. There continues to be some issues reported upon arrivals. These issues include light fringe burn, pink ribbing and slight insect damage.

The domestic growing areas in Arizona and California and supporting our demand. The desert grown melons have experienced overall good growing conditions. We have had some instances where the melons had some soft spots which were probably caused by hot weather. A vast majority of arrivals have been excellent. Lopes are peaking on 9ct with very few 15's coming in. The market is steady to higher based on higher demand.

Honeydews are continuing to increase in cost. We are peeking on dew 6's and very few 8's are being packed. Mexican supplies are extremely light due to fewer growers planting in order to have product during this time period. The market during this time last year was very low and many growers lost a lot of money so they didn't plant this year. Thankfully there has been good growing conditions in the desert so the increased market is really just a temporary one that should last for another week or two. The market is higher.

Supply on conventional seedless in Nogales has come to an early finish. production from the California desert is also very limited. Very short supply with poor yield and quality.

Onions market is steady at low levels due to light demand good production. Supplies are coming out of California, New Mexico and North Carolina. Quality is being reported as good out of all areas. Sizing is peaking on Jumbo's and larger with mediums getting a slight premium.

Washington -- D'anjou pears are steady to higher on 110s and larger while 120s and smaller are higher. The fruit continues to peak on US#1 80/90s and the quality has been good. Red pears are essentially finished.

Chile - Chilean Packhams are steady on all sizes and they still have a fairly even size spread from 70-120s. Argentinian Packhams are also steady to higher and are heavier to 100s and larger. The quality for both has been good. Both Argentinian and Chilean Bosc pears are steady and heavy to 100 size and larger although the Chilean fruit has more of the smaller sizes. The quality for both has been good.

Transitions:
California will start packing new crop Bartlett pears in early July.

Peak Seasons:
Washington is still in the peak of its D'anjou pear season.

Supplies from tropic's are good currently, but look for dropping supplies as we get to the end of June and light supplies for July and August.

The quality and size profile of Idaho's storage crop hasn't been the best since we switched to Burbanks. Issues have included internal and external bruising, light hollow heart, external cuts and occasional soft rot. These issues will continue through the balance of the storage crop. Shippers are grading harder to get most of these defects out of their packs. The availability of Idaho 40-70 count is way down and orders with larger quantities of these sizes are taking extra days to be made. Small burbanks look to be the trend for the balance of the storage crop out of all areas. New crop Idaho Norkotah will start around the first week of August which should give us relief on the 40 - 70 count potatoes. Washington and Nebraska should start approximately the end of July. Colorado and Wisconsin mid August. I am recommending to stay ahead on ordering 70 count and larger. Orders could be pushed back and shipping times will be lengthened as we work through this shortage.

Alerts:
Large cartons in a demand exceeds supply out of all shipping points

Bakersfield California -- golds, whites, and reds are steady with good availability especially on A size. Premium/Bakers and C-size of all colors are relatively limited. The quality is good.
Phoenix, Arizona -- Red and gold potatoes are steady on all cartons and both are peaking on A size. Gold supplies remain limited. The quality is good.
North Florida -- reds are steady on all sizes for now and are expected to last through next week. Some suppliers will still flex for volume on #1 and #2 red A size while B size reds are still relatively short. Most suppliers are finished with white and gold potatoes. The quality has been good.

Alerts:
Most Florida suppliers are finished with white and gold potatoes.

Transitions:
North Carolina is scheduled to start packing new-crop white potatoes next Monday 6/12 and reds and golds on Friday 6/16.

Peak Seasons:
Bakersfield is still in the peak of its season for all colors

The squash market is steady with weaker undertones. Yellow squash is a little less money and there are some deals on zucchini. Demand has fallen now that retail prices have risen to reflect the FOB market. Georgia is still the primary supply even with scattered rain, growers are working between the rain to get as much product harvested as possible. The concern now is quality going forward with rain and high humidity there are bound to be some arrival issues. North Carolina had severe storms with a lot of wind and hail that damaged a significant amount of squash after most shippers had been in production for over a week. New Jersey has started in light volume with more volume expected by the first of the week. Quality reports from New Jersey are good.

Alerts:
Weather is causing some quality issues in North Caroling and Georgia.

Transitions:
We are starting to transition from Georgia to New Jersey.

Peak Seasons:
Squash is moving into much better availability, expect it to peak next week.

Yellow Squash and Italian Squash are finished from Sonora(Crossing in Nogales) Yellow squash has been in very short supply and Italian has also been limited but supply on both is improving this week. Cool weather has slowed the new crop in California. sizing is mostly medium followed by fancy and xfancy with very few W/B being offered. Hard Squash is still being offered in fair supply but is also coming to an end in Nogales.

Weather in California's San Joaquin Valley has been positive for good production albeit we have had a slow start. The wet winter and plenty of cold nights has growers expecting a great CA stone fruit season. Stone Fruit harvesting started slowly in the San Joaquin Valley it's still not up to full speed but in the next couple of weeks we will feel a huge difference in the stone fruit arena. Nectarines, peaches and apricots are being packed. Plums started too and are increasing in volume. Cherries are finished for most growers in the valley and we have Washington coming up in the nest few weeks. The overall peak size being packed is in the larger end of the spectrum. The market is lower.

The market continues its gradual decline again this week as hope for South Carolina comes into the pipe line. As SC builds momentum over the next week with North Carolina joining in at the end of the month, North Florida will begin to taper closing out the month. Rainy weather is in the forecast which is usual for this time of year with tropical storms intermittently disrupting harvest. Quality is good at this time, however water and heat can change quality quickly and delayed picking may cause some turbulence in the market while supplies remain limited over the next couple of weeks. With persistent rain the crop can have a short life and may last the month of June only until Viginia and Tennesse can begin in July.

Nogales has finished for the season and Baja crossings into San Diego continue to gain momentum on where Vine ripes and romas are in better volume. The quality of fruit crossing at Baja is generally good. Prices are slightly down from last week.. Grape tomatoes have also improved. Cherry supplies are steady this week and demand is light. More repackers will be able to meet their needs without having to go east, and with California starting up in July, eastern shippers only have a couple of weeks left to set their pricing on the higher side until they will have to compete with the usual flush of fruit out of the Central Valley.