January 3, 2018 LOCAL ITEMS Harmony Valley - Viroqua, WI: Organic shallots, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, celery root, soup mix and sunchokes Hill and Valley - Hillsboro, WI: Organic green cabbage, red cabbage, acorn squash, butternut squash, yellow onion, red onions and pie pumpkin squash IGL Farms - Antigo, WI: Organic red potato, yellow potato and russet potato Driftless Organics - Soldiers Grove, WI: Organic green cabbage, red beets, gold beets and red cabbage Open Hands Farm - Northfield, MN: Organic cello carrots St. Croix Valley - Woodville, WI: Organic acorn squash, sweet onions, yellow onions and red onions Hugh s Garden - Moorhead, MN: Org red potato, yellow potato, russet potatoes and purple potatoes VEGETABLES Asparagus: As Peru finishes up for the season Mexico will be coming aboard in a few weeks. Look for supplies to tighten up for the next couple weeks until this transition happens. Broccoli: Broccoli crowns and 14 s will increase in market price for next week. Markets are active due to light supply from recent cool weather in growing regions and Holiday demand. Cabbage: Georgia, Texas and Florida are shipping with the best quality coming from Texas where we are loading. Market prices are increasing as these major growing areas are experiencing cold weather. Carrots: We appear to be back to normal on carrots. We are seeing some processing issues at loading, but overall we are back to the normal. Cauliflower: Cauliflower will see a slight increase in market price russdaviswholesale.com 800.332.7104 crazyfreshproduce.com
for next week. Markets remain very firm due to light supply from recent cool weather in growing regions and Holiday demand. Celery: Sleeved celery will see a slight increase whereas celery hearts will hold steady in market price for next week. Overall supply is good with promotional volume available. Corn: Florida corn availability is stable. Quality is very nice. Market price is slightly declining. Florida is expecting steady supply in the coming weeks. Cucumbers: Mexico continues to ship the best quality. Markets are stable this week. Mexico is currently seeing cooler than normal temperatures that is anticipated to slow production. Eggplant: We are loading in Nogales with stable market prices. Availability and quality are very good. Green Beans: Supply is tight and markets remain high. Cooler weather in growing regions have slowed plant production. Green Bell Peppers: Nogales is shipping with good availability and quality. Markets are slightly decreasing as Nogales harvest continues to increase. Green / Red Leaf Lettuce: Both green and red leaf lettuce will see slight increases in market price for next week. Overall supply remains good with promotional volume available. Green Onions: Green onions will see another moderate increase in market price for next week. Supply is much lighter than average due to wind damage experienced in Mexican growing regions and Holiday demand. Hard Squash: We are loading in Mexico. Market prices are stable. HOT HOUSE PRODUCTS: Tomatoes on the Vine: Supply will loosen up some post holiday. will be Mexico. Colored Peppers: Supply will loosen up some post holiday. will be Mexico. Beefsteak Tomato: Supply will loosen up some post holiday. will be Mexico Cucumbers: Mexico is up and running full force with Canada being a couple weeks away. Iceberg Lettuce: Iceberg will hold steady in market price for next week. Overall supply remains good with promotional volume available. ONIONS: Overall, there have been very few changes in price but a slight uptick in pricing is expected as we move further into winter and supplies dwindle. Jumbo yellow onions and colored onion prices should be the first to climb, due to their limited supply. Demand has been steady, but transportation remains the real problem in most shipping areas. There does not seem to be much relief in sight, but demand should slow down following the holiday shipping window. Sweet: Steady supply, steady pricing, solid quality on both NW Sweets and Peruvian Sweets. Both remain promotable. NW Sweets should be around until the end of March and Peruvians will wind down the end of February. POTATOES: Idaho Russets: Supplies have been tight due to holiday demand with most sheds maxed out on production. Expect to see stronger markets than last year on all sizes and packs. The size profile is trending toward smaller sizes which will be good for consumer packs but overall volume is down from last year on all sizes. Local Russets: Supplies of russet potatoes continue to trend below both last year s and typical supply levels by 10 to 15 percent. Holiday shipments of russet potatoes in all shipping areas were very good. FOB pricing running much higher than the average pricing for this time of year. Local Reds: The red potato market remains steady. Growers from all regions are shipping with ample supplies. Red River Valley quality is good. Promotable pricing. Local Golds: Supplies of storage crop yellow potatoes remain quite strong compared to russet potatoes. Yellow and red potatoes appear like the logical solution to any ad shortages from the russet potato market. russdaviswholesale.com 800.332.7104 crazyfreshproduce.com 2
Romaine Lettuce: Romaine hearts will hold steady whereas cartons will slightly increase in market price for next week. Overall supply remains good with promotional volume available. Sugar Snap Peas: Guatemala is shipping good quality. Markets are slightly declining. holiday harvest and production schedule challenges. Spinach: Unfortunately, spinach raw product will be very short all week. We anticipate 50% prorates to continue. Spring Mix: Straight Spring Mix skus will be constrained to forecast due to limited raw product. We may or may not experience prorates depending on volume of orders. Sweet Mini Peppers: Western supply is improving slowly. Market prices are stable. Sweet Potatoes: Promote with confidence. Markets will tick up slightly the end of the month but still will remain promotable. Zucchini and Yellow Squash: Markets are stable this week. Mexico is currently seeing cooler than normal temperatures that is anticipated to slow production. VALUE ADDED DOLE: Iceberg: Good supply and quality. Romaine Lettuce: Good supply and quality. Red & Green Lettuce: Good supply and quality on both. Tenderleaf: Both conventional & organic SHORTAGE for the next 3-4 weeks. Conventional Spinach: VERY tight supplies industry wide. Freezing temperatures in Texas supply are making it even tighter. Conventional Spring Mix: Tight supplies and quality is better. MANNS: Organic Snap Peas: Organic Snap Peas will continue to be hit & miss this week due to insect pressure. Conventional Snap Peas: Conventional Snap Pea supplies are expected to below normal this week due the weather and growing region transition. Organic Green Beans: Organic Green Beans supplies will continue to be hit and miss this week due to quality. EARTHBOUND FARM: 12x3 Romaine Hearts: In good supply this week. Romaine Leaves: Romaine Leaves Clamshells are limited due to FRUIT Apples: We have a couple weeks left of Local Macintosh then we will transition to Michigan. Avocados: The avocado market has become steady the last week or so, we expect to see this continue for the next few weeks. Blackberries: If there is a berry to promote this would be it. Mexico is cranking out product right now. Quality has been good, and as long as we can keep them moving through the pipeline should stay good. Blueberries: Quality has been very good. More availability is coming in every day. Market is maintaining prices unlike last year when we seen a bumper crop and extremely low prices. Do not look for that this year. CITRUS: Florida citrus will be very hit and miss this winter due to all the recent rains as well as the effects from the Hurricanes. Sunburst tangerines are out and done for the season. Cara Caras: Here! Sky Valleys: Here! Sumos: Available to stores around 1/13. russdaviswholesale.com 800.332.7104 crazyfreshproduce.com 3
Blood Oranges: Here! Minneolas: Here! Pummelos: Here! Halos: Here! Navels: Here! GRAPES: I must say we have seen almost everything this week. From trucks being extremely tight and charging ridiculously high rates, to vessels offloading extremely slow due to the freezing cold weather and cranes breaking, it has been a great week. Fruit looks fantastic. Both Peru and Chile have done a very nice job so far of sending the right fruit. We want to see that continue to happen all season. More and more retailers have made the switch to imports this week. I think we will see the rest of the country switch next week. That means demand will rise and in some cases, we will see pricing stabilize and hope get to some kind of market along the way. We should see more vessels and containers become available next week. It has really been a struggle trying to get fruit released. There just isn t enough USDA workers to get to all the fruit in a timely manner. We see this year after year. White Grapes: We need to focus on white grapes this week. We have very nice fruit from the M/L variety to the Jumbo s. The fruit has been clean with a nice appearance and eating quality. We are starting to see some newer varieties begin to arrive, such as the Sweet Globe, Arra-15. Those volumes will continue to improve. If you need those, let me know and we can put them aside. White grapes from Chile will slow just a bit on arrivals as we get to the middle of January. It shouldn t last long and with green grapes, we really shouldn t notice much of a gap. Red Seedless: Big red grapes are going to become much more scarce than whites. Chile is slowly getting more reds to come, but it has been a very slow process. The red grapes from XL and bigger will become limited for a time until we start to see more from Copiapo. Black grapes from Chile will start for us on 1/15. These are the unknown variety and typically are very good! Sizing is mostly large and XL. Red Globes: Red Globes will continue to loosen especially after the holidays. Right now there is a lot of pressure to get containers released and with the holidays, it becomes very difficult. Next week that should get easier. Pomegranates/Persimmons: Pomegranates continue to wind down for the domestic season. Most shippers have finished up on mid-to-large sized fruit (16 s through 30 s). Smaller fruit remains available, with some shippers expecting to have #1 quality through most of January. Persimmons continue to wind down for the season. We will have product available for the next 10 to 14 days and be finished for the season until imports start in March/ April. Raspberries: Supply has been ok. The seasonality down turn has hit however. Most shippers are not willingly giving out any quotes and are saying day to day. Stone Fruit: Peaches and nectarines are both available. Strawberries: Extreme cold temperatures in all growing regions have severely hampered production this week. Florida had extreme cold weather which is holding back fruit from coloring up and sizing up. Most Florida fruit which is very limited is staying in state. Mexico has also been very cold that coupled with a Holiday and an extreme truck market has made getting strawberries extremely difficult. Look for this market to be extremely tight and difficult for the next week and possibly beyond. TOMATOES: Roma: Currently, availability is very good. Quality is also very good from Mexico. Forecast is for colder weather and is expected to impact supply. Grape/Cherry: Markets are increasing with cooler forecast temperatures In Florida. Availability is expected to be impacted. WATERMELON: Mexican watermelon supply will start to get better after the first of the year and price will start to come off as the offshore watermelon start to arrive. Mini Seedless: We are loading Mexican fruit and quality and price has been steady. Size and price point are advantages for extra sales during the colder months. russdaviswholesale.com 800.332.7104 crazyfreshproduce.com 4
ORGANIC New Items: 49266-40# Organic Minneola 49286-12/3# Organic Minneola Up Next - Organic Murcotts at the end of January Organic Asparagus: Mexico is gapping right now between growing regions. We will be out for 2-3 weeks. Organic Bell Peppers: Red, Gold and orange bell peppers in good supply. Organic Minneolas: Bag and bulk will be here this weekend. Organic Roma Tomatoes: Roma tomatoes will be very tight for a couple weeks. Organic Strawberries: we have organic berries from EBF coming in this weekend. Organic Turmeric: We have turmeric from Jamaica. Organic Blueberries: Argentina is finished up on blueberries. We are pulling from Chile now. Organic Broccoli: Broccoli will be really tight for about two more weeks. Organic Brussels Sprouts: Brussels sprouts are from Mexico and California. Organic Clementines: What we have is it for clementines for the season. The end of January we will bring in bulk and bag murcott mandarins. Organic Grapes: Organic red and green grapes are done for the season. There may be some very limited import red grapes next month, otherwise next season isn t until May. Organic Grape Tomatoes: With cold morning temps, high day temps and strong winds, grape tomato volume will be very limited until mid-january. We may have to fill in with other labels besides DelCAbo. Organic Jalapeños: Should have solid availability on organic jalapenos for a couple of months now. Organic Kiwis: California kiwi is here in 1# bags, 1 layer and volume fill. Organic Mangoes: Tommy atkins mangoes are here, and we also have a limited amount of ataulfo mangoes, too. russdaviswholesale.com 800.332.7104 crazyfreshproduce.com 5