The Source - October 26, 2015

California - they have a few Braeburns and Fujis left but supplies are light. New-crop Pink Ladys are available and they are peaking on the smaller sizes, the market is steady. The quality has been good.
Washington - New-crop Red Delicious are steady on all sizes. Most suppliers are peaking on 72/80/88s and have very few 125s and smaller. Golden delicious are steady and still producing mostly premium grade 100/113/88s. Granny smiths are steady and peaking on 88/100/113s. Most Granny packers don't have much size larger than an 88. Galas are steady to higher on all sizes. Most Gala shippers are still peaking on 100/113/125s and don't much available larger than a 100-size. Fujis are heavier to large fruit but the market is steady to lower as inventories are building. Honeycrisp are steady and are peaking on 64/72s. Some suppliers will deal on lower grade Honeycrisp. Jonagolds and Braeburns are steady but supplies are light. The quality for all varieties has been good.
Michigan - McIntosh are peaking on the larger sizes and the market is steady. Galas are steady on all sizes due to steady demand. 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, Jonamacs, and Empires are all steady and the sizing is heavier to the smaller fruit so there are deals on certain varieties.
New York - Red delicious, Macs, Galas, Honeycrisp, Macouns, Empires, and Golden delicious are all being quoted 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. A few cortlands are available. The quality has been good on all varieties.

This market continues on a steady course. Good availability out of the region of Peru is in the forecast thru at least the middle of the week. Southern Baja has looks to be moderate in availability for the week. The best availability continues to be with the standard size packs. Large and extra large packs are expected to be limited. Jumbos continue to be very limited. Good quality continues to be reported as good in all the growing regions.

Hurricane Patricia brought heavy rains over the weekend, halting harvest and closing roads in the growing areas. No really damage was experienced. Harvesting is beginning again today and roads will reopen soon. Still good supplies available and do not expect to gap too much from this event. Supplies will be crossing again in 2 to 3 days look to remain steady with good volumes. Stating to see a more normal range of sizes, peaking on 48s and 60s. Limited volume on #2 fruit as quality is very good. The fruit is still low in its maturity, but is coming in with better oil content and breaking better. 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.

While California's crops continue to wind down for the season, more fruit is crossing from Central Mexico and is helping to supply our needs. Best availability is coming out of McAllen, TX and Los Angeles, CA with some transfers now making arrivals into Oxnard, CA as well. Availability of fruit out of Salinas/Watsonville has decreased significantly. Some shippers were affected by the recent weather in Central Mexico and some shipments and transfers are delayed as harvest crews focus on cleaning up plants, repairing the hoops, etc.

Demand exceeds supply. An industry-wide shortage continues as very 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. The current shortage does not look to be short-lived. We've seen several weeks of extremely limited availability and the situation is worse this week. 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. Quality may also continue to challenge us throughout the upcoming weeks.

Alerts:
Demand exceeds supply. Extreme shortages continue industry-wide.

As California's northern growing districts have began to decline for the season, the southern districts are still producing good volumes of fruit. Central Mexico is also increasing in volume which is helping to supply our needs. We will likely see availability tighten up some this week as some shipments and transfers to the US have been delayed due to the rain and wind in Central Mexico over the past weekend.

Transitions:
Central Mexico is producing good volumes of raspberries and more fruit is being shipped through McAllen, TX and some transferred into Southern CA as well.

Demand exceeds supply. Strawberries are extremely limited across all California growing regions as we continue to transition into the Fall/Winter berry season. Shippers are coming into empty coolers each morning waiting on the day's fresh harvested berries to be inspected, received in and cooled down to loading temperature. With the coolers running out of fruit each evening, trucks expecting to load should physically check in at the cooler early to get an early loading appointment. Delays are to be expected as fruit is limited and slow to come in from the fields each day. Daily harvests continue to be lower volumes than estimated. Labor is presenting another challenge as picking crews have transitioned into planting fields for the Spring crop, limiting the amount of pickers to harvest daily. Quality issues are being reported in all areas. Salinas/Watsonville is still showing soft and bruising, smaller sized fruit, some overripe and occasional mildew. Many growers have already ended production in the Northern district and many more will follow over the next 10-14 days. Santa Maria and Oxnard fruit is stronger but still showing some occasional bruising and fruit has sized down over recent weeks. Santa Maria and Oxnard fruit are demanding a premium price as well. Mexico started crossing strawberries in a small way but the early shipments have already been scaled back significantly due to the rain and wind experienced this past weekend. This is limiting production and transportation to the US.

Alerts:
Demand exceeds supply in all California growing regions.

Transitions:
Mexico has begun shipping strawberries into the US through McAllen. However, initial shipments have been scaled back significantly due to the wind and rain that affected production over the previous weekend.

A few shippers are flexing in price to begin the week while others are holding steady. Crown production is better. Quality issues continue. These issues 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. The Southern California production is moderate at best. There is availability out of Mexico as well as McAllen.

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

This market is softer and a few shippers are offering deals on volume type orders. Value added product came off of escalated pricing at the end of last week. The overall quality is reported to be good. Warm temperatures are expected again for the first part of the week with potential rain at the end of the week. Salinas and Santa Maria are the two main growing regions at this time.

This market is firm with a few shippers attempting to go higher. Supplies are very limited. Michigan no longer has production as last week proved to be the end of their season.Large sizing continues to be the tightest in availability. Santa Maria's production is light. Production in Salinas will be limited all week. The quality continues to be reported as strong in all the growing regions. Oxnard will not begin production until November.

This market overall is steady. Pricing is competitive. The Baja region of Mexico as well as Southern California has steady production to fill all orders. Warm temperatures continue to exists in all of the growing regions. The overall quality is reported as good.

Demand remains very high. We are seeing better availability on 140s and larger fruit, but still seeing demand exceeding supplies on 165s and smaller fruit coming from the new crop in the desert. Expect this shortage on smaller fruit to continue through at least November.

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

The lime market is up on many of the packs. Hard rain and flooding the past few weeks temporarily disrupted harvesting in the growing area. Bigger fruit in a few weeks will be the result of the rains. Holiday demand from Europe mid-November and the increased size of the fruit looks to put upward pressure on the small sized fruit next month. The overall quality is good on the new crop. The old crop limes are average to below average in quality and will be finished by the end of this month. We continue to have good demand on limes.

More shippers are beginning to pack this years California Navel crop this week, so look for volume to begin to pick up; last of the shippers will start over the next couple of weeks. Clear weather last week allowed shippers to pick every day, so inventory waiting to go into the gas rooms will start to build and we can start to get 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 seedless grape market is steadily strengthening as growers approach the end of the season. We should see suppliers drop out of their fresh harvest grapes and move into their storage fruit over the next few weeks. Quality continues to be reported as generally good.

Transitions:
Green grapes will come primarily from storage mid-November to mid-December; when the first of the early Chilean fruit will be available.

Peak Seasons:
The domestic green grape season is past it's peak.

The red seedless grape market is exhibiting some strength. Availability of the larger varietals is diminishing as we move closer to the end of the fresh season. With good demand for the larger fruit we are seeing this price strengthen even as the market on the smaller Crimson's lags. This split will continue until shippers clean up on inventories of the smaller fruit. Quality is reported as generally good.

This market is firm with most suppliers. Escalated pricing is in effect. Supplies are expected to be limited all week out of Mexico. Temperatures in the Mexico region continue to be high. Demand is up. Production out of Salinas will be very light all week. The main sizing continues to be in small and some medium packs.

After six to eight weeks of a flat market, this commodity finally has gotten stronger. Supplies out of Mexico as well as California are moderate. The Baja region as well as California continue to be the main growing regions at this time. The overall quality continues to be good.

This market continues to gain strength. Huron production is moderate to light at best. Seeder and low weights are the big issues in this region. Quality issues in Salinas and Santa Maria include small and irregular head size, lightweights, large seeder, 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. The weights on palletized are averaging 32-36 pounds. Salinas and Santa Maria are expected to be light in production all week.

This market is active. There is light production in Huron 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. The weights on romaine cartons are averaging 24-28 pounds. Green and red leaf markets are higher as well. Fringe burn, mildew damage, internal burn and insect pressure continue to be defects associated with these commodities. Expect moderate to light supplies for the entire week. There will continue to be gaps in pricing amongst the different shippers.

The West Side is producing less and less volumes of all sizes and growers are finishing for the season each week. The peak size at the moment is 12ct. The 9ct are available again and volumes of them are increasing nicely. The West Side has good quality but green cast is prevalent in all but a few growers lots. Some melons are cutting with more green in them than normal, this will continue until the West Side is finished in October. The desert has been producing good volumes of large sized fruit with nice color and sugar content with a peak size of 9ct. Mexico is crossing small volumes of cantaloupes. The current market on all sizes is steady. We are experiencing good demand for cantaloupes at this time. Offshore melons are set to arrive in Florida around the middle of November.

The peak size is currently 6ct with very few 8ct coming in. Our honeydew market is steady on all sizes currently with a hint of upwards movement in it. Honeydews are now finished West Side district. Mexico has started sending dews across their border into Nogales AZ for loading. The desert is packing with 5ct being the peak sizes and 6ct being the smallest coming in. We continue to experience good demand across the board. The quality and sugar contents from all 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 reds and yellows. The sizing for both colors is still smaller than normal with a higher percentage of mediums than normal. The quality has been good.
Idaho/Oregon - reds are steady to slightly higher on both mediums and jumbos. Yellows are steady to lower on all sizes and the availability for all with the exception of medium yellows, is good. Some suppliers are dealing on volume of jumbos, colosslas, and Supers. Whites are steady. The quality has been good.

Washington - The Bartlett market is steady and they are peaking on 110/120s. Large Bartletts remain short. Bosc are steady and continue to peak on 90/100/110s. D'anjou pears are also steady and are heavier to 90/100s. Most shippers have limited supplies of 80 and larger D'anjou pears. 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. The D'anjou, Bosc, and red pear quality has been good.

Washington - the market is up slightly on the larger counts and steady on the smaller counts. Most shippers are still heavier to 70-count and smaller norkotahs. The quality has been good.
Idaho - the market is steady on norkotahs and slightly higher on burbanks. The sizing is still much heavier towards 70-count and larger and both varieties should be mostly through the "sweat" and coming from storage now. The quality has ranged from fair to excellent.
Colorado - The market is up on all counts as they are feeling more demand due to the stronger Idaho market. The norkotah sizing is more evenly spread and the quality has been good.
Wisconsin - the market is steady on the larger counts and up slightly no 80-count and smaller. The quality is good.

Bakersfield, California---they continue to bring in all colors from Washington and the market is steady for all. The quality has been good.
Western Washington - all colors are slightly higher on A-size, slightly lower on B-size, and steady on C's and number-twos. The quality for all colors has been good.
Central/Eastern Idaho - both reds and golds are heavy to A-size and the markets are steady on all sizes. The quality has been good.
Wisconsin - Reds and golds are steady on all sizes and both colors are peaking on A-size. Premium and baker reds, premium and baker golds, and gold Cs remain limited. The quality has been good.
North Dakota - reds and golds are steady and both are heavy to A-size. B-size reds remain limited and number-twos volume is still limited but is getting better. Premiums and bakers are still very short. The quality has been good.

Rounds - The market is steady/higher. Due to weather conditions, market contines to be high. Prices will continue to be higher in the east, due to lower volume in the west. Volume will remain lower in Northern Florida for the remainder of this week. Volume should increase next week. Quality good.
Roma - The market is steady. Supplies continue to increase in both the east and west. Quality good.
Cherry/Grape - Cherry market is higher. All regions continue to be short. Supplies wil begin to increase once the larger Florida shippers harvest additional product. Until then, the market will remain elevated. Grape market continues to be high. Not much has changed, Grape market will remain strong until supplies in the east pick up. The west continues to see fewer producers. Quality is good.

Rounds - The market is steady. Mexico continues to come into additional supplies. However, the weather in the east will continue to keep the market steady in the west. Quality is Fair.
Roma - The market is steady. Mexico will see increased volumes as they build up for their fall program, however, the poor weather will effect overall yields. Quality is good.
Cherry/Grape - Cherry market is steady/higher. All regions continue to see very low volumes. Grape market is steady/higher. Mexico is supplying some volume but demand continues to exceed supplies. We should see some relief when Northern Florida begins to harvest next week. Quality is fair