The Source - November 16, 2015

California - Pink Ladys are steady and continue to peak on the smaller sizes. Most shippers are in clean-up mode so there are some volume deals. The quality has been good.
Washington - Red Delicious remain very large. 100 size and smaller are steady to higher due to short supplies while 88s and larger are steady. Most suppliers are still heavier to 72/80/88s and have very few 125s and smaller.
As a state Washington red delicious volume is down by 30% so expect supplies to remain limited. Golden delicious are steady and still producing mostly premium grade 100/113s. Large Goldens are very short. Washington golden delicious is down by 25% from last year. Granny-smiths are steady and are still peaking on 88/100/113s. Most Granny shippers don't have much larger than an 88-size but are also short on 125's and smaller right now due to strong demand. Galas are steady on all sizes. Most Gala shippers are still peaking on 100/113s and don't much available on 88's or larger. Fujis are steady and are peaking on extra-fancy 80/88/100's. Honeycrisp are higher and still peaking on 64/72s. Some shippers still have volume buys in the lower grades but most suppliers have not packed in a couple weeks so supplies are low. Honeycrisp demand is stronger in Washington now because the east coast and midwest shippers are finishing up. Jonagolds and Braeburns are both steady and continue to peak on 72/80/88's. The quality for all varieties has been good.
Michigan - Red delicious are steady on all sizes and are still peaking on 72/88s. Empires are steady on all sizes and still peaking on 125/138s. Some suppliers will finish with Empires in early December. McIntosh are higher and they are heavier to 125/138s. Galas are steady on all sizes and are now heavy to 138s. Golden delicious are higher due to heavy bruising and they are peaking on 125/138s. Honeycrisp supplies are light and many packers are finishing up for the season. Jonathans are steady on all sizes and they are peaking on 150/138/125s. Fujis are steady and they are also peaking on 125/138s. Cortlands, Red Romes, Ida-reds, and Jonamacs, are all still available.
New York - Red delicious, Macs, Galas, Macouns, Empires, Cortlands, and Golden delicious are all steady. McIntosh and macoun volume is good and some shippers will flex on certain sizes and grades. The Macs are peaking on 100s and the galas are heavier to 100/113s. Some suppliers are finished with Honeycrisp. The quality has been good on all varieties.

Large sizing, jumbo packs in particular continue to be in extremely light supplies. The market, overall is steady with standard packs being the dominant sizing available with suppliers. Supplies have tightened up out of the Peruvian growing region. Southern Baja is moderate to light in availability, and this will likely continue all week. Good quality, overall continues to be reported.

We are starting to see the supplies in the pipeline to the forward warehouses being filled subsequent to the past rains in Mexico. We are now into the new crop and are stating to see a more normal range of sizes, peaking on 48s and 60s. Limited volume on #2 fruit as quality is very good. This new crop fruit is lower in maturity and will take longer to ripen and not darken as much when ripen. Ripe fruit could still be green in color as the skin isn't mature enough for it to darken. Color is not an indication of ripeness, pressure is.

Pepper supplies out of California continue to decrease with quality dropping of quickly. Nogales has light offerings out of northern Sanora on red, yellow and gold being offered in mostly in 11 lb units. Volume and demand will increase slightly as we get closer to the holidays.

The blackberry crop continues to decline out of CA and should end major production by mid-late November. Mexico should be ramping up production weekly as we move into their season. Quality issues with soft fruit, red cell and juicing have been reported in both CA and MX fruit. Availability has been sporadic as quality issues continue to pose a challenge. Logistics have also been a challenge as fruit is being transferred into CA out of MX to supply current orders and have experienced some delays with the transfer trucks.

South America and Mexico have struggled with inclement weather that has affected both production and quality of shipments bound for the US over the past several weeks. Growers have been shipping less fruit overall due to the amount of fruit being discarded because of poor quality. Arrivals have been sporadic to the West coast as much of the fruit is arriving into Miami and has to be trucked over to the West coast for shipping. However, we are seeing more fruit on the west coast than in previous weeks. Availability has been better loading out of the port cities on the East coast in New Jersey and Florida. Depending on the weather, we could see production and supply issues all the way through Thanksgiving. We should see more blueberries arriving from Chile at that time which will help with overall supply. Prices remain high as availability is still limited.

California crop continues to decline out of both northern and southern growing districts. Supply will be limited in CA this week and we will depend on fruit transfers from all growing regions to provide fruit to the coolers. Central Mexico should be ramping up production but continues to face challenges with weather and logistics to get the fruit to the U.S. Quality has suffered some with wet, leaky fruit but harvesting crews are focusing on diverting subpar product to pack quality.

Demand exceeds supply in all growing regions. Availability has decreased drastically and will continue to decline throughout the month of November. The Northern growing regions (Salinas, Watsonville, Castroville) have ended production for the season. The Southern districts (Santa Maria and Oxnard) are past the crop's peak production and will continue to decline in production weekly. We have also seen rain and cooler weather in the growing regions which have posed another set of challenges with delayed growth and disrupted harvests. Mexico has been very slow to get started with their season and the fruit crossing into the U.S. has been very minimal so far. Most shippers are quoting 2-3 weeks out before we will see this volume ramp up significantly and that projection is dependent on favorable weather. Florida production is still several weeks away and projected to begin around the end of November, beginning of December. This current supply gap is projected to last for 3-5 more weeks.

Alerts:
Demand exceeds supply in all growing regions. Availability has decreased drastically and will continue to decline throughout the month of November. This current supply gap is projected to last for 3-5 weeks.

This market is stronger with all suppliers. Demand exceeds supply. Expect this market to gain strength throughout the week. Yuma has not begun production as of yet. Crown production will be light all week. Broccoli issues will include yellow beading, hollow core, pin rot, light green color, as well as a rubbery texture. The main production continues to be out of the Salinas Valley, with light production in Southern California. This will continue for the rest of the week. There continues to be production in Mexico as well as McAllen. Yuma will not have production until approximately Thanksgiving. There is light production on crowns in Phoenix Arizona if needed.

Cooler weather in Bakersfield is slowing growth and the sizing and tonnage is dropping off. The percentage of jumbo size carrots is falling off and market is firming.

This market continues to gain strength. Escalated pricing is in effect. Yuma will not begin production until approximately after Thanksgiving. Salinas and Santa Maria are the main growing regions associated with this commodity currently. The overall quality is reported to have slight spotting sporadically. Heavy rains earlier in the week has altered production severely. Pricing looks to rise steadily throughout this week. Demand will exceed supplies all week.

This market continues to gain strength.Demand exceeds supplies. Expect this to continue all of this week. Escalated pricing is in effect. Large sizing continues to be light in availability. Oxnard has begun production. Supplies will be light in all of the growing regions throughout the week. Production in Salinas is almost finished. The quality continues to be reported as good in all growing regions.

This market is stronger with all suppliers. Although some shippers have sold out, there seems to be enough product to meet the overall demand. The Baja region of Mexico as well as Southern California continue to be the main growing areas for this commodity. Supplies have tightened up dramatically compared to the past couple of weeks. Rains in California will likely alter production numbers.

Demand remains very good. The Desert crop is 30% lighter in volume than last years. This crop is producing a larger proportion of fancy grade and is peaking on 140s and larger fruit, which is in good availability with market easing off a bit, but still leaving us in a demand exceed supplies on 165s and smaller fruit. Expect this shortage on smaller fruit to continue through January.

Alerts:
Demand exceeds supply on the smaller sized fruit 165s/200s/235s. Expect shortages to go through January.

Demand continues to be good. Past rains that disrupted harvesting and good European demand has firmed the market. Harvesting is getting back to normal and should see better crossing later in the week.

All shippers have began to pack this years California Navel crop this week. Rain is some on the growing areas yesterday halted harvest for growers in the rain areas, but many of them do have inventories under cover and ready into the gas rooms. We are back into a more normal flow of fruit. Sizes are peaking on 113s/88s/138s. Larger sizes of 72s and 56s are very limited as fruit has not sized up yet. Volumes will continue to pick up over the up coming weeks, if weather cooperates.

Quality is generally good, but available lots do vary in quality and condition. Nogales supplies are increasing as new fields come online with markets lower and steady.
California is winding down with supplies crossing from Mexico increasing. Quality and supply are improving with more shippers offering volume pricing.

Market is steady as well and supplies are increasing, but quality will vary. Recent hot weather and rain is impacting yields. Nogales has started with very few supplies and quality is improving with slightly increasing supplies.

The green seedless harvest is winding down rapidly. The reduction in supply coupled with good demand has driven this market much higher. We are expecting to see this market move much higher in the coming weeks as supplies out of Peru are extremely limited and Chile is still several weeks away from harvest.

Alerts:
The recent spate of rains have adversely affect the last of the green grapes being harvested. The domestic harvest is nearly finished for the season.

The red seedless grape market is moving higher. We should have adequate supplies through the end of the year but the recent rain events are impacting quality. This is pushing the market up as the better quality fruit is commanding a premium.

This market is stronger. Production is expected to be moderate in Mexico. Salinas' production will be light all week. The main sizing continues to be in small and some medium packs. Expect demand to increase until early next week, where then you can expect demand to fall off.

This market has picked up in all areas of California. Mexico will have moderate supplies at best all week.Demand is higher. The overall quality continues to be strong. Pricing is expected to be competitive for the entire week. Expect light demand by the first of next week.

Demand exceeds supplies. Production in Salinas is finished. Escalated pricing is in effect including value added items. Santa Maria and Yuma production is limited. Huron has finished production. Seeder and light weights are the big issues in all the growing regions. Quality issues include small and irregular head size, lightweights, seeder, decay, puffiness, insect damage and internal burn. The defects are directly related to past and current high temperatures. These defects are industry wide and will continue throughout the month.

This market is active with all suppliers. Demand exceeds supply. There continues to be light production in Huron and Yuma on romaine. The quality issues continue in all the growing regions. These issues include fringe burn, small and irregular sizing, insects, dehydration, seeder and internal burn. Green and red leaf are active as well. Fringe burn, mildew damage, internal burn and insect pressure continue to be defects associated with these commodities. There are light supplies of green and red leaf in Yuma. Butter will continue to be very light in availability all week. This is industry wide. There will continue to be gaps in pricing among the different shippers on all leaf items. Salinas is all but finished in production by the middle of this week.

The desert has been producing good volumes of large sized fruit with nice color and sugar content with a peak size of 9ct. Lope 18ct are very scarce currently and 15ct are in very light volumes with 12ct being a little short overall too. Mexico is crossing small volumes of cantaloupes with very small quantities of 15ct. The current market is steady. The large size fruit trend will continue for the near future. We are experiencing decent demand for cantaloupes at this time. Offshore melons are arriving in Florida and volumes will continue to increase weekly. Initial reports show good quality lopes peaking on 9ct.

The peak size is currently 6ct with more of all sizes coming in than previously. Our honeydew market is steady on all sizes. Honeydews are now finished in the West Side district. Mexican dews are shipping out of Nogales AZ and domestic dews are being packed in Maricopa AZ. Demand is good on all sizes. The quality and sugar contents from both regions continue to be good and this looks to continue. Offshore dews are set to arrive during the later part of November.

Seedless are being packed in mostly cartons, some bins. Quality is good to very good on most lots shipping out of Nogales. Sugar is very good for this time of year, testing 9-11 brix. Peaking on smaller sizes. 60s are most available, followed by 80s with few larger sizes of 45s, very few 36s. Personal seedless are being offered by more shippers with peak sizes being 9/10 some larger and some smaller.

Washington - jumbo yellows are steady to lower and all other sizes are steady with light availability. Reds are steady on both sizes. Some shippers will flex on volume jumbo yellows. The quality for all colors has been good.
Idaho/Oregon - the yellow market is being quoted as steady but there are volume deals on jumbo and larger yellows. The yellow demand has been fair. Reds and whites are both steady. The quality for all colors has been good.

Washington - Bartletts remain steady and continue to peak on 110/120s. Large size Bartletts are still very short. Bosc are steady and continue to peak on 90/100/110s. D'anjou pears are steady and they are still peaking on 90/100s. Most shippers are short of D'anjou 80s and larger. Red pears are steady on all sizes and are still producing mostly half carton 45/50s and full carton 90/100s. The quality has ranged on the bartletts as some suppliers are between regular storage and C.A. The D'anjou, Bosc, and red pear quality is good.

Washington - the carton market is mostly steady and there are various deals still available. The norkotah quality has been good.
Idaho - the carton market is steady to lower for norkotah and Burbank 70s and larger. Norkotah 80s and smaller are slightly lower while Burbank 80's and smaller are steady. The volume deals on number-twos and the larger counts are still available. The quality for both varieties has been good.
Colorado - the market is slightly lower on 70s and larger and steady to lower on 80s and smaller. Volume deals on 70s and larger are still available. The norkotah quality has been good.
Wisconsin - the market is steady on all sizes. Wisconsin still has an even size distribution. Some suppliers are limited on 90-count and smaller. The norkotah quality has been good.

Bakersfield, California - all sizes and colors are steady and continue to peak on size A. Premium size reds and golds remain short. The quality has been good.
Western Washington - all colors are steady and they are also peaking on A-size. The quality has been good in all colors.
Central/Eastern Idaho - Reds and golds are steady on all sizes and continue to peak on A-size. The quality is good.
Wisconsin - Reds and golds are steady on all sizes and both are peaking on A-size. Number-two Bs, Premium and baker reds, premium and baker golds, and gold Cs are all still short. The quality has been good.
North Dakota - Reds and golds are steady and still peaking on As. Red B-size #1 and #2 volume remains limited along with premiums and bakers in both colors. The quality has been good.

All squash is available now: Italian, yellow and grey. All sizes are available and all packs. Quality is very good and market has reached promotable levels. The Market is slightly stronger.

Rounds - The market is steady. Florida is receiving warmer better volumes. temps were cooler over the weekend. Demand is steady. Rain continues with wet weather over the weekend. Quality is Good.
Roma - The market is higher. Winter crops continue to be a couple weeks away. Supplies are low this week. Rains continue to slow things up in Mexico. Quality is good.
Cherry/Grape - Cherry market is lower. Florida growers are in full production with plenty of supplies. Out west continues to be a different situation. Very few supplies and market higher in the west. Quality is good.
Grape market is steady. Florida seeing more supplies. Mexico is crossing grapes out west, but the market still steady. Quality is good.

Rounds - The market is steady. Rains continued over the weekend out west. Northern California about finished. Supplies a bit lighter due to rains and colder weather. Mexico continues to be lighter in supplies. Quality is good.
Roma - The market is higher. Supplies continue to be low this week. Market continues to be higher. Mexico is still a few weeks away from their winter crops due to weather conditions. Florida continues to produce more supplies, however demand still strong. Quality is good.
Cherry/Grape - Cherry market is higher. Lighter supplies in the west. Mexico is crossing a few, but production still a bit slower due to rains. Florida cherrys continue to come on strong in the east. Quality is good.
Grape market is steady. Mexico is crossing grapes, but the market continues to be steady. Florida has good supplies on grapes. Quality is good.