The Source - November 9, 2015

California - Pink Ladys are steady to lower and continue to peak on the smaller sizes. The quality has been good.
Washington - Red Delicious remain large and are steady to higher on 100's and smaller while 88s and larger are steady. Most suppliers are still heavier to 72/80/88s and have very few 125s and smaller. Golden delicious are steady and still producing mostly premium grade 100/113s. Large Goldens are limited. Granny-smiths are steady and are still peaking on 88/100/113s. Most Granny shippers don't have much larger than an 88-size. 125's and smaller are also short right now. 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. Jonagolds and Braeburns are steady and both are peaking 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 the larger fruit. Empires are also steady on all sizes and they are peaking on small fruit. McIntosh are peaking on the larger sizes and the market is steady. Galas are steady on all sizes due to steady demand and they have limited supplies of 100's and larger. Golden delicious are peaking on 113-138s and the market is steady to slightly lower. Honeycrisp are peaking on 100's and larger and inventories are building so the market weaker than it was. Jonathans, Cortlands, Red Romes, Fujis, and Jonamacs, are all steady and the sizing is heavier to 100/113s with only light supplies of 125/138s.
New York - Red delicious, Macs, Galas, Honeycrisp, 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 quality has been good on all varieties.

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

Short supplies exist as more rains at the end of last week halted harvest. We should start to see supplies getting caught up by the end of the week. 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.

The blackberry crop continues to decline out of CA and should end major production by mid-late November. It could end even more abruptly after the recent rain in both growing districts. Mexico should be ramping up production weekly as we move into their season. Quality issues with red cell and juicing have been reported in CA and MX fruit.

An industry-wide shortage continues as minimal volume of fruit is arriving to the US from Uruguay, Argentina, Peru and Mexico. South America continues to struggle with inclement weather that is affecting both production and quality of shipments bound for the US. More reports are coming in with rain, hail, cold weather and even snow in particular growing region's forecasts. Growers are shipping less fruit overall due to the amount of fruit being discarded and because much of the fruit has to be flown into the US to avoid the longer transit time of shipping on the water. Arrivals have been very 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. Availability has been slightly better loading out of the port cities on the East coast in New Jersey and Florida. We've seen several weeks of extremely limited availability. Depending on the weather, we could be working through production and supply issues all the way through Thanksgiving. Prices remain high as availability is limited.

Alerts:
An industry-wide shortage continues as minimal volume of fruit is arriving to the US from Uruguay, Argentina, Peru and Mexico.

California crop continues to decline out of both northern and southern growing districts. Supply will be very limited in CA this week. 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 California 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. Florida production is still several weeks away and projected to begin around the end of November, beginning of December.

Alerts:
Demand exceeds supply in all California growing regions. Availability has decreased drastically and will continue to decline throughout the month of November.

This commodity will likely gain strength throughout the week with the holiday pull. 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. Theses defects are a direct result of high temperatures in past weeks. 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.

Bakersfield crop is in full production. Size in the fields is good and the percentage of jumbo size carrots is good.

This market is stronger. 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 but quality overall is above average. Heavy rains in northern and southern California began on Sunday and has continued into Monday so quality issues could change quickly. Pricing looks to rise steadily throughout this week.

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

This market is active with all suppliers. The Baja region of Mexico as well as Southern California are the main growing regions for this commodity. Supplies have tightened up dramatically compared to the past couple of weeks. Rains in California will likely alter production numbers. The overall quality for now is reported to be good.

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, but 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 now. Hard rains and flooding last month temporarily disrupted harvesting in the growing area but current production is back to normal. Bigger fruit is the result of the rains. Holiday demand from Europe mid-November and the increased size of the fruit is putting upward pressure on the small sized fruit. The overall quality is good on the new crop. We continue to have good demand on limes.

All shippers have began to pack this years California Navel crop this week. Rain is some on the growing areas yesterday and today has 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 starting to 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.

The green grape market remains strong. Supplies continues to drop. Smaller shippers are finishing up quickly and the larger growers are trying to balance the remaining crops between program business and open market. We can expect this to continue until the end of the year. Peruvian fruit will begin to trickle in and volumes are expected to be light. Quality is still good.

The red seedless grape market remains strong withy slight increases. Supplies continue to decrease. Shippers are trying to balance between program business and open market in an effort to extend supplies through the year. Crimsons variety is the most available with a few Scarlets left. We expect the market to remain firm. Quality is being reported as good.

This market is stronger to start the week. Demand has picked up, due to the holiday pull. Temperatures in the Mexico region have been ideal; 70-80 degrees. Production is expected to be moderate but demand will likely start to exceed supplies by the end of the week. Salinas' production will be light all week. The main sizing continues to be in small and some medium packs.

This market has remained unchanged. This market is steady for now with this commodity. Supplies out of Mexico as well as California are good. The Baja region as well as California continue to be the main growing regions at this time. The overall quality continues to be strong. Pricing looks to be competitive for the entire week.

Plenty of rain on Sunday and Monday has crews delayed on harvesting in Huron for this commodity. Demand continues to exceed supply. Production in Salinas is finished. Escalated pricing is in effect including value added items. Huron production is light. 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. Yuma has begun production but quality is only fair. Defects again include light weights, seeder, puffy, misshapen heads and overall heat damage. These defects are industry wide and will continue throughout the month.

This market is stronger. 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 stronger. 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 . Heavy rains on Sunday and Monday will be a direct cause for delays at shipping point. Harvesting crews are on standby. Butter will be tight with all suppliers in all regions for the entire week, minimum. There will continue to be gaps in pricing amongst the different shippers on all leaf items.

The West Side finished packing for the season. The desert has been producing good volumes of large sized fruit with nice color and sugar content with a peak size of 9ct and 6ct. Lope 18s are very scarce currently and 15s are in very light volumes with 12ct being short overall too. Mexico is crossing small volumes of 9ct cantaloupes. The current market on the 9ct is steady. The 12ct, 15ct and 18ct lopes are higher since the demand for them outstrips the supplies of them. 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.

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.

Washington - the market is steady on all sizes and colors. Jumbo availability is generally good while mediums are limited. The quality for all colors has been good.
Idaho/Oregon - they are quoting steady on all sizes and colors. The volume deals for jumbo and larger yellows remain. The quality for all colors is good.

Washington - Bartletts are steady and they continue to peak on 110/120s. Large size Bartletts remain short. Bosc are steady and are still peaking on 90/100/110s. D'anjou pears are steady and 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 market is generally steady although there are some volume deals. The norkotah quality has been good.
Idaho - they are also quoting steady on all sizes but have the occasional volume deal in the larger counts and number-twos. Small counts and consumer bags are limited. The burbank and norkotah quality has been good.
Colorado - the market is steady on all sizes. A few suppliers have offered volume deals on 40 and 50 count. The norkotah quality has been good.
Wisconsin - they are also quoting steady and have an even size distribution. Some suppliers are limited on 90-count and smaller. The norkotah quality has been good.

Bakersfield, California - Red As are up slightly but all other sizes and colors are steady. Premium size reds and golds remain short. The quality has been good.
Western Washington - all colors are steady and they are also peaking on As. 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. B-size #1 and #2 red volume is still short. Premiums and bakers remain limited. The quality has been good.

Rounds - The market is lower/steady. Quincy still bringing light supplies to the market. Palmetto is adding growers and continuing to build volume. Quality Good.
Roma - The market is steady. Supplies continue to increase in all areas. Demand has remained constant. Quality is good.
Cherry/Grape - Cherry market is Steady. Florida is bringing more supplies to the market. Quality is Good. Grape market is steady. Northern and Central Florida overlapping on production, providing additional supplies to the east. Quality is Good

Rounds - The market is steady. California continues to wrap up for the season, shifting demand to Mexico. Market is steady due to demand. Heavy rains and Colder weather hitting the west. Quality Good.
Roma - The market is lower / steady. Most areas are under way or are picking up volume. Baja growers continue to harvest fall product. Larger size romas are in lighter supply. Quality is Good.
Cherry/Grape - Cherry market is steady/higher. Still lighter on supplies in the west. Market still strong stronger due to supplies. Better supplies in the east on cherrys. Quality is good. Grape market is steady. Baja in their seasonal decline, but central Mexico is seeing an increase in volume. Demand continues to be consistent. Quality is Good.