The Source - November 25, 2015

Washington - Red Delicious remain large as most shippers are peaking on 72/80/88's. All size reds are steady to higher but the smaller sizes are especially short. Washington's red delicious volume is down by 30% from last year so expect a season-long strong market. Golden delicious are steady and still producing mostly premium grade 100/113s. Large Goldens are extremely short! Washington's golden delicious volume is down by 25% from last year so expect them to stay strong as well. Granny-smiths are steady to higher on all sizes 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 have much available on 88's and larger. Fujis are steady and are peaking on extra-fancy 80/88/100's. Honeycrisp are steady but strong due to increasing demand as the other states finish up. Washington fruit is still peaking on 64/72s. Lower grade Honeycrisp are still cheaper. 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 late November/early December. McIntosh are higher and they are heavier to 125/138s. Galas are steady on all sizes and are now heavy to 138s. Gala availability is relatively light. Golden delicious are higher due to higher than normal bruising during packing and they are still peaking on 125/138s. Honeycrisp supplies are very light as they are nearly finished for the season. Jonathans are steady on all sizes and they are still 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. The Gala volume is light on all sizes. Most suppliers are finished with Honeycrisp. The quality has been good on all varieties.

Alerts:
Red delicious apples are short and the market is climbing.

Peruvian supplies off the East Coast remain steady but look for disruptions starting this week with the Thanksgiving day rush on flights. The market is strong and following the strong market out here on the West Coast with Mexican Asparagus. The Mexican Asparagus market remain strong with sizing steady on Standard and Small. Large, Extra Large, and Jumbo supplies remain short on both coasts. However quality has been good with arrivals. Only time I have seen some quality issues is with some Peruvian Asparagus that has been trucked to the West Coast to ship on orders out here.

Mexican shipments to the U.S. was up last week, and should hold steady for the next several weeks. The pipeline to the forward warehouse have been filled. We are seeing a more normal range of sizes, peaking on 40s/48s, but availability on 60s/70s continues to be an issue. 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.

The CA blackberry crop continues to decline in volume and should end major production by early December. Mexico is ramping up production weekly as we move further into their growing season. Quality issues with soft fruit, red cell and juicing have been reported in both CA and MX fruit.

Availability has improved over recent weeks with increased volume arriving on both the East and West coasts. South America and Mexico are shipping more fruit with the addition of more blueberries from Chile as their crop begins to ramp up and more shipments will be sent to the US in the coming weeks. Quality has been good overall.

The CA raspberry crop continues to decline in production volume out of both the Northern and Southern growing districts but central Mexico is continually ramping up production. Between all production areas, we have adequate supply. Quality has suffered some with wet, leaky fruit being reported.

Demand for fresh strawberries has been lighter this week which has helped to balance the overall supply! California production volumes are still low in Santa Maria and Oxnard but central Florida and central Mexico are both supplying more strawberries to help cover the overall demand. Markets should also begin to steady as more fruit becomes available. We do have some tropical weather coming into Mexico that could pose a threat to the growing regions and we will continue to track this to determine affect on production in the upcoming week.

Transitions:
Central Florida and central Mexico are both increasing in production volumes and helping to supply the demand for fresh strawberries throughout the industry.

The broccoli market is demand exceeds supply as the Salinas Valley winds down with it's harvest. The Yuma and Imperial Valley desert growing regions are trying to start but supplies are extremely short. This shortage in the desert is predicted to last the month of December. Expectations aside, any weather event (freeze, heavy rain) could significantly impact our supply situation into the coming year.

Alerts:
Industry wide shortage.

Transitions:
Currently finishing in the Salinas Valley and starting in the desert growing region.

Brussel Sprouts still remain extremely short in supply. The warm weather experienced during the summer have really taken its toll on the growing conditions of the Brussel Sprouts. They require cool night time temperatures in an optimal summer environment. This produced erratic sizing as well as finishing up to 2-3 weeks earlier than a normal year. Look for supplies to remain the same for the rest of November and all of December.

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 firm.

The cauliflower market is in an extreme demand exceeds supply situation as the Salinas deal has essentially finished and the Yuma deal is still several weeks away from starting. We do have some limited supplies from all regions trickling in but in insufficient numbers to meet the current demand. The desert regions are expected to show an improvement in volume by mid-December but with only marginally better numbers than currently available. This market looks to remain strong through the end of December.

Alerts:
Market extreme demand exceeds

Transitions:
Starting in Yuma

Demand exceeds supply of large size celery in Oxnard. All growers are losing celery to the current Fusarium outbreak. Consequently, sizing continues to run small. This situation should improve but the overall view of most shippers is this market will continue to struggle with size and volume through December.

Alerts:
Fusarium Wilt

Transitions:
Oxnard primary region

Supplies remain sporadic with the Salinas Valley finishing and Oxnard / Mexico being the only growing region harvesting this commodity. The supplies have created a temporary stronger market. Quality still remains fair at best with yellowing and black slimy decay from bunch to bunch.

Demand remains very good. The Desert crop is 30% lighter in volume than last years crop and is 41% harvested. 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.

The lime market is steady on all of the sizes. Bigger fruit is the result of previous rains in the growing areas. Holiday demand from Europe has started and they prefer smaller sized limes. The increased size of the fruit and increased demand is putting upward pressure on the small sized fruit. The overall quality is very good on the new crop. We continue to have good demand on limes.

Navel crop is peaking on 88s/113s/72s/138s. Cooler night time temps are bring on better natural color to the oranges and growers are able to drop gas times on the fruit down to 48 hours or less for some. This will help both quality and turn around of fruit. Volumes will continue to be steady, if weather cooperates.

The green seedless grape market is strong with limited supplies of domestic storage for the next several weeks. Quality on these is fair to good at best. The imports from Peru are beginning to ramp up in volume but are available on the East Coast only for the time being. This market will be tight on supplies for the next several weeks.

Transitions:
Peruvian grapes coming in on the East Coast.

The red seedless market is strengthening. The last of the domestic crop has just experienced a rain event that will adversely affect the quality of the grapes left to be harvested. We are in the last month of shipping primarily storage grapes on the domestic side. Peruvian red seedless are coming into the East Coast but in limited quantities. We should see a significant improvement in volume about the middle of December.

Alerts:
Raining in the Central San Joaquin Valley- last of the domestic harvest affected

Transitions:
Peruvian red seedless coming in to the East Coast

Peak Seasons:
Last of the domestic red seedless shipping in December

Currently we are still seeing limited supplies from Mexico due to previous rains and cooler than normal temperatures. We also had a Mexican Holiday that did off set harvesting. Supplies will remain limited through this week. The market is strong and demand seems to be as well due to Thanksgiving. We are still seeing some yellowing and wet decay upon arrival.

Good supplies of kale have been available out of Yuma. The transition from Salinas to Yuma has been a smooth one. Product is also being grown in Oxnard. Nice green color and texture from the new crop from Yuma. The market has been steady even with transition to Yuma.

Light availability will continue all week with every supplier for this commodity. Demand exceeds supplies. Escalated pricing is in effect on contract cartons and value added items. Production in Salinas is finished. Santa Maria and Huron production is also finished. There continues to be issues with quality and expect these issues to continue throughout the rest of the year. Defects include seeder, light weights, small and irregular head size, puffiness, and insect damage. These defects are industry wide. The weights on palletized lettuce has been ranging from 28-36 pounds. There will be no harvesting on Thursday from any shipper. This translates to trucks loading slowly on Friday as product will be reaching coolers slowly throughout the day.

Alerts:
No harvest on Thursday with this commodity. Delays likely on Friday loading.

Transitions:
Yuma in production. Santa Maria, Salinas and Huron is finished.

Supplies of romaine have loosened up in terms of availability with a few shippers. Although the holiday pull is over, there are still a majority of suppliers that will be light all week with this commodity. Salinas and Huron are finished in production. Escalated pricing continues on value added items as well as contracts on carton business. The quality issues continue. These issues include fringe burn, small and irregular sizing, insects, dehydration, seeder and internal burn. Green leaf will be scarce all week. Red leaf and butter are available to meet demand. There are multiple defects were noting on all leaf items. These defects include fringe burn, mildew damage, internal burn and insect damage. This is industry wide. There will continue to be gaps in pricing among the different shippers on all leaf items throughout the week.

Alerts:
No harvest on Thursday. Expect shipping delays Friday as product will be harvested throughout the day.

Transitions:
Salinas, and Huron are finished in production. Yuma territory is where the leaf items are at.

The desert finished packing lopes last week. Mexico is crossing very very small volumes of cantaloupes. Offshore melons are arriving in Florida and volumes will continue to increase weekly. Supplies are being eaten up now since the desert has finished packing. Offshore quality is good and the peak size is 9ct and 6ct with very few 12ct and even less 15ct. The 18ct sizes will not be available for several days. The current market is up on all sizes. The large size fruit trend will continue for the near future. We are experiencing very good demand for the cantaloupes that are arriving. The offshore growing areas have experienced 4-6 inches of rain this past weekend. Arrivals around December 7th could be affected by these heavy rains.

Alerts:
We are in a short term supply gap due to the desert finishing up a bit ahead of schedule. The offshore melons have been arriving on the East coast and are beginning to arrive on the west cost now also. The volumes are increasing on both coasts.

Transitions:
Offshore lopes will be our source until mid June.

The peak size is currently 6ct with more of all sizes coming in than previously. Honeydews are now finished in the West Side district. The desert has also finished harvesting. Mexican dews continue to ship out of Nogales AZ. Demand is good on all sizes. Offshore dews are arriving in small volumes in Florida with the peak size being 5ct. Offshore dews will arrive on the west coast mid December. The market is steady on Mexican dews and higher on offshore dews.

Transitions:
The desert finished harvesting honeydews for the season. Offshore honeydews are arriving in Florida and are set to arrive in California mid December.

Washington - the market is steady on all sizes and all colors with only light demand. The quality is good on all colors.
Idaho/Oregon - they are also steady on all sizes colors with only light demand. The quality has also been good.

Washington - Bartletts are steady on all sizes but strong due to lighter supplies. The fruit continues to peak on 110/120s and large size Bartletts remain very short. Bosc are steady and continue to peak on 90/100/110s. D'anjou pears are also steady and continue to peak 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.

Supplies are improving and look for good supplies for December. Exports to Europe has backed off and this is helping our supply issues we have seen over the last month.

Washington - cartons and number-twos are steady on all sizes. The norkotah quality has been good.
Idaho - the market is steady on all sizes in both varieties. There are still a few volume deals on number-twos and the larger counts. Expect the availability to be generally low this week as many shippers won't pack much after Monday. The quality for both varieties has been good.
Colorado - the carton market is steady on all sizes. The norkotah quality has been good.
Wisconsin - the market is steady on all sizes. Wisconsin still has an even size distribution. 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 are still limited. The quality has been good.
Western Washington - reds and golds are steady and they are also peaking on A-size. Whites are already finishing up. The quality has been good on all colors.
Central/Eastern Idaho - Reds and golds are steady on all sizes and continue to peak on A-size. The quality has been good.
Wisconsin - Reds and golds are steady and both colors are peaking on A-size. Number-two Bs, premium and baker reds, premium and baker golds, and gold Cs are all limited. The quality has been good.
North Dakota - Reds and golds are steady and still peaking on size A. Number 1 and 2 Red B volume remains limited along with premiums and bakers in both colors. The quality has been good.

Peruvian cherries are now available on both coasts. The market is about steady with sizing running heavily to the larger 9 and 10 row. Quality is generally reported as good.

Rounds - The market is steady. Weather in the east continues to be warm. Supplies a bit better on the smaller sizes. Mexico product still light due to weather conditions out west. Quality is good.
Roma - The market is lower. Supplies continue to get better with the current weather. Mexico still sporatic with supplies. Quality continues to be good.
Cherry - The market is steady. Supplies continue to be good in the east. Mexico weather still colder, limiting supplies. Quality is good.
Grape - The market is steady. Florida is seeing more supplies with current weather conditions. Quality continues to be good.

Rounds - The market is steady. Weather out west continue to be raining and colder. Still lighter supplies, until west Mexico gets started next month. Quality is good.
Roma - The market is steady. Supplies continue to be sporatic due to weather out west. Supplies should pick up when west Mexico comes on. Supplies available back east. Quality is good.
Cherry - The market is steady. West continues with lighter with supplies. East market steady. Quality is good.
Grape - The market is steady. Mexico crossing grapes. Florida has good supplies back east. Quality is good.