Salinas - Partly cloudy to sunny for the upcoming week with highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s. Oxnard Partly cloudy to sunny skies for the upcoming week with highs in the 60s and 70s and lows in the 50s. Yuma - Mostly sunny with highs in the 80s and lows around 60. Mexico (Culiacan) -Sunny skies for the week highs in the 90s and lows in the 60s. Florida, Southern - Sunny to partly cloudy for the week with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s. Idaho Partly cloudy skies for the upcoming week with highs in the 30s & 40s with lows in the 20s. Consistent freezing nights. Follow Us On Facebook! The National Diesel Average has been recorded at $2.912 up 0.030 gal from last week and up 0.479 gal from last year. NPC continues to monitor and track diesel fuel averages by state as well as reported truckload freight rates on a weekly basis. Remember Rail is an option! Transportation continues to work through its most significant structural changes in years in regards to new laws and regulations stressing available truck volume and controlling drivers. Expect to feel it the hardest over the next couple of months. Truck Shortages : AZ, CA, FL, CO, (EXTREME) OR, ID, MN, ND, NC, NE, NY, WA, WI. Bell Peppers Chili Peppers Corn Eggplant Green Beans Tomatoes www.nproduce.com (800) 213-6699 November 22, 2017 Page 1
Apples The 2017 Washington state apple crop looks to be slightly smaller than last year s crop. Harvest started a few weeks later than last year, but growers anticipate a crop of good quality fruit. While Red Delicious remains the most numerous variety with a projected 24% of production, Gala is close behind at 22.5%, followed by Fuji at 14% and Granny Smith at 13% of total production. This year Honeycrisp is forecast to come in at 8% of the total crop and Cripps Pink at 5%. Asparagus Asparagus good supplies all around. Prices in the low 20s, overall quality good. Avocados Supply the last 4 weeks into the US has been consistently 38-45million lbs per week. However, November is traditionally one of the slowest demand time periods thus leading to lower prices in the US. Mexican Revolution day Monday, 11/20, coupled with the Thanksgiving week will see limited fruit crossing but continued field price stability. More growers are beginning to size pick larger fruit, with price points on smaller fruit having reached levels that saw those size stay in the domestic market. The crop is still a clean, heavy #1 crop, with less than 10% yield of #2s. We feel by the first week of December pricing will stabilize and possibly move sideways for a few weeks. Lastly, quality on the Mexican fruit should continue to improve each week, as the fruit maturity rises. Bananas Weather conditions in the tropics continue to be good with lower temperatures that increase quality. Demand will decline for the rest of the year. We don t see major issues with supplies on conventional banana. babies/pieties, will be light for the balance of the year, and it will be the same on plantains. Plenty supplies on organic bananas. Berries Blueberries: Production out of Argentina drastically reduced. Chilean expected by mid-december. Blackberries: Volume picking up as MX starting. Quality only fair. Raspberries: Quality and Supplies good out of Mexico. Broccoli Supplies have improved this week. Product available in Salinas and Yuma. The market is down from last week. The current FOB s are $9.25 to 11.25 on Bunched, $11.25 to $12.25 on Domestic Crowns and $12.25 to $13.25 on Asian Crowns. Central Mexico: Supplies are light this week but improving next week. The demand is steady and the current FOB s are $11.25 to $12.25. www.nproduce.com (800) 213-6699 November 22, 2017 Page 2
Cauliflower Supplies are starting to improve. Quality is good, great color and improved sizing. Cantaloupes Guatemalan cantaloupes started last week and will pick up momentum this week with arrivals into Florida. Early sizing has shown a nice balance between 9/12/15s but we project the smaller fruit to become limited next week. Quality is strong with good internal color, flavor and brix levels which have been ranging from 11-14%. Carrots Supply is picking up and averages that suppliers are holding distributor should be lifted soon. Quality is good. Celery Oxnard supplies have increased, Salinas and Santa Maria are winding down. With holiday prebooks done demand has slowed down. Prices have declined over the past week with the mid mostly $11.50-$13.50 depending on size. Corn Corn availability is beginning to improve as new production begins out of Florida. Market is still mid 20s. Cucumbers Georgia continues to harvest a few cucs but should wrap things up by the weekend. Florida has multiple areas in season and has good fruit available. In the West, Baja is expected to harvest cucs for another 2-3 weeks while Mainland Mexico is increasing in supply. With more Mainland growers expected to come on board over the next few weeks, we anticipate even stronger supply soon. Quality has improved on Mainland's product as they get further into the crop. www.nproduce.com (800) 213-6699 November 22, 2017 Page 3
Eggplant Eggplant remains fairly tight in the East, with light volumes coming from both GA and FL. Western markets are transitioning from the California desert to Nogales, where quality and volumes are excellent. Grapes Red Grape pricing is firming up as shippers try to slow down movement and extend supplies into December. The Green Grape market remains steady as shippers continue to push for movement on Autumn Kings. Production will be lower on California Red Globes but size and color are very good. The Autumn Royal supplies are tightening up as we head into December. Peruvian Red Globes are available on the east coast as California supplies are less than prior years. Peruvian Red and Green seedless arrivals still remain light as we approach December. More volume should arrive mid-month. AIR shipped Blueberries from Chile will see the first arrivals this weekend with limited volumes available. Green Beans Eastern green bean supply is improving as new crops come online in Central and South Florida where quality has been very nice thus far. In the West, the California desert is winding down while Mexico farms are beginning to see volumes increase. Honeydews Honeydews are currently heavier to the smaller sizes (6/8s) with larger fruit being limited. We anticipate a slight shift to bigger fruit by later next week. Honeydews will not begin to arrive into the other ports until the week of 12/4. Iceberg Lettuce supplies continue to be above budget and crops continue to push forward due to weather. The weather has been a record high for November. Days are extremely hot and the lows are in the mid-sixties. The crops basically are growing 24 hours a day due to these conditions. The market has been depressed due to the heavy supplies. Kale No expected change in condition or availability from the same quarter in 2016, should continue to be plentiful for the next three months. Any dramatic change could be caused by an abnormal weather condition. www.nproduce.com (800) 213-6699 November 22, 2017 Page 4
Leaf Romaine: Supply is steady. Demand is slowing slightly. Issues still include fringe burn and occasional seeders. Green Leaf: Supplies are lighter. Demand is good seeing clean packs. Red Leaf: Supplies and demand is steady. Quality is good Lemons & Limes Lemon- - Fruit out of this Oxnard continues to peak at 140 s and smaller. Markets are at record highs, for this district, D3. The yields are down 30 % in the packing shed this week, and forecasted to be in this ballpark for the year struggles to pick enough to ship, with volumes coming in way below already low estimates. We are just starting in D1 as we ring pick to get going. Limes: The market continues to rise but quality is good, as is the availability of the product. Shortages are causing markets to increase. Demand has been steady. We expect this for at least another week. Onions The market is steady and demand is good. Trucking continues to be challenging - prices continue to be very strong. JBOs around $9-10, reds $8-10, Whites, $18-20. Oranges Pears Oranges are starting to look nice, we are expecting to see a size increase. Market is holding with some pockets of heavy gassed and older fruit moving on deal pricing with a few shippers. We have decent (load) volumes on a good mix of Fancy and Choice, though starting to feel pressure on the 48s and 113s. Demand is strong, low volume still on packed navel in California. Substitution approvals like 113ct and 72ct as options for 88ct that will make it easier to keep us supplied on. The current crops are producing low yields, especially Choice fruit; growers are hoping for that to turn around otherwise we will end this season very early. Oranges will be in short supply all year long. As we head into August, Washington State can't get into new crop fast enough. Due to extreme climate, bloom pushed back causing US to be late this year. New crop Anjous will start mid sept. Peppers, Bell Peppers continue to be snug this week. Although Georgia is still picking end-of-crop fruit this week, they are expecting to be completely done by the weekend. There's a little product in Florida, but not enough to meet market needs. California's bell crop is winding down, but they continue to have nice quality. Mainland Mexico has started in a small way, but they still don't have much size. Look for production to pick up after the holiday. www.nproduce.com (800) 213-6699 November 22, 2017 Page 5
Peppers, Jalapenos Chili availability is very tough in the East. Georgia is all but finished and Florida farms haven't gotten started yet. As we look to the West, the main source of product is Mainland Mexico. A strong national market is keeping prices high at crossing points this week. Quality is excellent, but sizing has been challenging. Pineapples No major changes from last week: Pineapple supplies will remain good through the end of the year. Fruit continues to trend large, volumes on 5/6cts are high while there are lesser volumes available on 7/8cts. Overall quality in the marketplace is good through the end of the year. Potatoes Squash Strawberries With Georgia winding down, Eastern markets are looking to Florida for squash. Several areas are up and running with more than ample volumes available each day. The West also has more than adequate volumes of product available crossing at Nogales. Both Eastern and Western growers are dealing with some quality concerns on yellow squash. Potatoes are steady from last week. USDA reports that growers produced 7.7 million cwt fewer fall potatoes this year than they did in 2016. That pulled production down to 398.9 million cwt. Freight is a huge issue right now as trucks are very short and new initiatives increasing costs; with Christmas upon is the situation looks to get worse before better. Demand is HIGH. The production window has wound down in Salinas and Watsonville. Many CA growers are sold-out, covering only and the best they can on contract business only. Oxnard seeing some bruising, overripe, and some windburn. Smaller counts also. 24-26 on average. Mexico starting slowly to trickle in over the border in pallet quantities. But, sizing and quality are still concerning. Still expecting Florida volumes to come on and help ease demand by first week of December. Tomatoes Florida farms expect scattered volumes for the next 2-3 weeks, with numbers taking a dip this weekend. Quality has been nice on the fruit that's available though. Eastern supply will remain challenging until South Florida begins to harvest crops that were re-planted post hurricane that are expected to come off in mid-december. Although grape tomatoes are extremely short in the East, we should see volume improvements during the first or second week in December. East Mexico and Baja will continue to work existing acreage on rounds and romas through December, with size dropping off over the next few weeks. Although multiple areas are harvesting grape tomatoes in Mexico, there is not a lot of volume in any one place. Production increases have been slow to come, but should kick in over the next few weeks. www.nproduce.com (800) 213-6699 November 22, 2017 Page 6
Winter Vegetable Supplies in Transition As November dawned, there was a significant transition in vegetable production and markets were strong, portending a solid winter vegetable deal from the West. The lettuce market came off its very high mid-october run, which saw prices nearing the $40 mark, but many other commodities remained tight as the Thanksgiving pull sat just off the horizon. Mark McBride, a salesman for Coastline Family Farms, based in Salinas, CA, told The Produce News on Nov. 1 that several grower-shippers had transitioned to the Huron district in Central California for their lettuce supplies, with the first Yuma, AZ, fields only a week or two away from harvest. Huron typically has a three to four week harvest window with some growers using it to bridge their summer deals on the California coast to their winter desert deals. Others go directly from the coast to the desert, relying on late fields in one area and early ones in the other. Consequently, November supplies can be a bit erratic, especially on head lettuce. Doug Classen, sales manager for The Nunes Company Inc., based in Salinas, CA, said that while the lettuce market had come down quite a bit, it was still a solid $10-$12 on Nov. 1 with indications that it could tighten as demand increases. Overall, he said demand for other lettuces, broccoli and celery were very good with cauliflower supplies non-existent. If you can find any, cauliflower is at $30-plus, broccoli is in the $20 range and celery also has a strong market. Overall the vegetable market is doing very well right now. Another factor influencing vegetable supplies is the cold front that sliced through the upper Midwest and Northeast over the last few days of October. McBride said some of the regional deals were still impacting the market as late October unfolded, but the cold weather put a quick end to most of those deals. That has helped us, he said. http://www.producenews.com/category-list/22753-vegetable-supplies-in-transition-with- If you have any specific questions or concerns on any commodities not mentioned in this report, please feel free to reach out to dforsythe@nproduce.com and we will be happy to give you those current market conditions. Also look for our Spanish version that will be released on Monday and our Midweek Update released every Wednesday. Have a great week! Keeping You Informed, Your Dedicated NPC, LLC Staff www.nproduce.com (800) 213-6699 November 22, 2017 Page 7