April 18, 2018 Celery: Sleeved celery and celery hearts will both decrease in market price for next week. Overall supply is good with promotable volume available. Corn: The Florida Spring Sweet Corn Crop is now producing with excellent quality and availability. This is a great time to promote Florida Corn. VEGETABLES Asparagus: Weather has warmed up in Mexico s growing regions causing growers to start closing fields. Mexico will finish for the season in the next 1 2 weeks. Domestic supplies from CA are good and supplies in Peru are on the increase thanks to ideal weather in Peru s 2 growing regions. Washington will be starting up in the next week or two as well. Some cold weather has set them behind. Broccoli: Broccoli 14 s will hold steady in market price for next week whereas crowns will see a slight increase. Overall supply is good with multiple regions producing. Cabbage: Texas is shipping with excellent quality. Market prices are slightly declining. Georgia is projected to start shipping around the first of May. Cauliflower: Cauliflower will slightly adjust upward in market price for next week. Overall supply remains good with multiple regions producing strong yields. Promotable volume is available. russdaviswholesale.com Cucumbers: Mexico continues to ship the best quality and consistency. Southern Mexico has started harvesting new fields bringing more volume to the market. Florida is now harvesting, however the quality falls short of western product. Eggplant: We are loading in Nogales with good quality, and markets are steady. Greens: Greens are currently loading in Georgia with steady supplies over the next few weeks. Green Beans: Florida quality and supply are very good. Market price continues to increase as Florida s crop winds down. Georgia will be the next area to ship in early May. Green Bell Peppers: Nogales, California and Florida are shipping with good availability. Markets are stable. California is shipping the best quality and where we are loading now. 800.332.7104 crazyfreshproduce.com
Green Onions: Green onions will slightly adjust upward in market price for next week. Overall supply remains good. Green/Red Leaf Lettuce: Green leaf and red leaf lettuce will both increase in market price for next week. Huron has finished for the season and we are now loading product out of the Salinas growing region. Supply is lighter than previous weeks and is expected to be fair/average for the coming week. Hard Squash: We are loading in Mexico with excellent quality. Markets have increased on most varieties. Butternut market price is very high with limited availability. Iceberg Lettuce: Iceberg will increase in market price for next week. Huron has finished for the season and we are now loading product out of the Salinas growing region. Supply is lighter than previous weeks but remains good overall. Onions: Pricing remains stable on conventional onions and demand is moderate at best. A handful of growing regions have ample supplies of onions, keeping prices in check. It will be important to keep an eye on quality over the next couple of months. Storage regions in the East and Northwest will finish their supplies this month, turning the focus to Texas, California, and certainly Georgia for Vidalia sweet onions. The Official start date of the Vidalia season is 4/20. We should see the first Vidalia trucks back to the Midwest around 4/23. POTATOES: Russets: The russet potato market remains relatively unchanged. Idaho still has a slight surplus, but most growing areas are firming up on price for smaller-sized russet potatoes. Supplies are stable and expected to make it through the remaining storage crop season. Local Reds: The red potato market remains soft; supplies currently exceed demand. Red River Valley quality is good with very promotable pricing. Promotable pricing. RDW also carries New Crop Florida B Reds. Local Golds: Major shipping regions are beginning to wrap up their supplies of storage crop yellow potatoes. New crop yellow potatoes are becoming available from growers in Florida but at a considerably higher cost. Red, Yellow, Orange Peppers: Canadian Hot House product is great supply. Markets are stable with great quality. Rhubarb: Washington field grown product is in stock and available now. Markets are projected to remain steady. Romaine Lettuce: Romaine hearts will see a slight decrease in market price for next week whereas cartons will increase. Romaine supply remains tight industry-wide. We are now loading product from the Salinas growing region. We expect some relief in the market once Salinas ramps up production. Snap/Snow Peas: Look for snows and snaps to rise, supplies are tightening. Snows will go up more first then they are saying snaps are lagging behind. We can expect a very active pea market over the next 4 weeks. Sweet Mini Peppers: Western supply is becoming uncertain. Markets are increasing. We will use some Hot House product as Western supply diminishes this Spring. Zucchini and Yellow Squash: Mexico continues to ship the best quality. Nogales supply and markets are increasing with the Southeast and California shipping soon. VALUE ADDED DOLE: Iceberg: Great supply and good quality. Romaine Lettuce: LIMITED supply for the next 2-3 weeks. Quality is okay, but seeing some fringe burn and epidermal peel. Red & Green Leaf Lettuce: Good supply and quality on both. Conventional Spinach: Great supply and good quality. Conventional Spring Mix: Good supplies and quality. MANNS: Snow Peas: Snow Peas raw material will continue to be hit and miss this week as our sourcing team is struggling to find Snow Peas that meet our QA standards. Items with Snow Peas may be shorted this week or until raw product supplies from regular sources returns to normal. Butternut Squash: Butternut Squash raw material supplies continue to be tight this week. Our sourcing team has done a good russdaviswholesale.com 800.332.7104 crazyfreshproduce.com 2
job filling in the gaps in supply, but their luck may come to an end for this week and into next week. Items with Butternut Squash may be shorted this week or until supplies return to normal. EARTHBOUND FARM: Romaine: Orders loading on Thursday 4/19 and forward will contain only California grown red and green romaine. We have finished up the Yuma growing region. Blueberries: Blueberries remain in good supply with Florida, California, and central Mexico currently producing along with some Chilean fruit still available. Georgia will start to slowly ramp up production over the next couple of weeks as well. Market price will continue to downtrend. Organics are also in good supply. Cantaloupe/Honeydew: Imports are steady with more Jumbo 9cts and 9cts available, limited 12s and 15s. Honeydews are smaller sizes right, more 5cts available. A big truck strike in Honduras is blocking some of the ports and could make things interesting into next week. We will have import Cantaloupe and Honeydews available for approximately 5 more weeks, before the switch to Mexico and Domestic. FRUIT Apples: Import Braeburns will start around the 2 nd week of May. Washington will have product up until the imports start. New Zealand Sweet Tango Apples are now available. We will be loading some New Zealand Koru Apples next week. Avocados: Avocado markets are stable and strong in both Mexico and California. For California it s due to high demand for exports due to a shortage of supply out of Chile and a late start on harvesting out of Peru. Mexico is because growers are holding firm on costs and demand will only continue to increase as we head closer to Cinco de Mayo promotions and overall increased demand in the US for avocados as we head towards summer. Once material volumes of Peruvian fruit start hitting east and west coast ports we should see some easing on pricing. This is expected to start happening late May, early June. Blackberries: Blackberries remain very active. Central Mexico saw stronger-than-projected production this past weekend. Supply has improved from last week, but market prices remain firm for the time being. Organics will remain tight due to lower-than-expected yields on certain varieties. Cherries: The crop is coming along great so far, there was some rain last weekend but we are being told there shouldn t be any effect on the crop. This year s crop volume predictions are down from last year, but we won t have precise information until they start picking. We will see the first cherries picked on the week of 4/23, with their first volume packing week of 4/30. Look for your first California cherry promotions for 5/6 ads! CITRUS: Navels- Sizing is still peaking on larger fruit and will remain that way through the season. Navels will wrap up around June 15th. Cara Caras- Sizing is still peaking on larger fruit, they will be available through the end of April. Moro Oranges- Sizing is still peaking on larger fruit, they will be available through Mid-May. Minneolas- Sizing is peaking smaller, great opportunities on bagged fruit. They will be available through April. Grapefruit- Texas will be wrapping up in the next few weeks. After that we will transition to California. Halos- Volumes are strong with availability through May. Organic Navels- Are winding down for the season, they will be available through April. GRAPES: Greens: For the second week in a row, we have seen green grapes continue to develop into a two tiered market. The frustration level russdaviswholesale.com 800.332.7104 crazyfreshproduce.com 3
on both ends is getting high with most players at their wits end. The green grape situation will only get more frustrating as we edge closer to the end. Prices will continue to escalate, especially on true storage fruit. Mid-level quality Thompsons are arriving with issues and most shippers are trying to repack the lots that are worth the time and effort. Don t get me wrong, there are still some very nice lots available. You just have to dig to find. Those that are willing to find the right fruit will be rewarded with increased sales on those same lots. Those that don t have the green grapes are finding it difficult to move the other colors that are more prevalent in supply. The other concern for importers, is how long can we drag the green grapes? With Mexico still a relatively unknown, how long can we support the trade with good green grapes? As in most years, will we have enough good supplies to make for a smooth transition into Mexico? Reds: Crimsons right now are very good. Arrivals have been very consistent. The fruit has full color, good sugar and green stems. Sizing is on par, however, we may see a shortage on XL and bigger as we get closer to the end. Will the rain they had in Chile affect the volumes they send after the marketing order? Oh yea, the marketing order. That date is this coming Tuesday. That means whatever is in the breakwater by April 10, will make it under the normal rules of protocol. The fruit that is in the breakwater after April 10 will be subject to US #1 upon arrival. That is not a risk the Chileans want to make on green grapes. Crimson, if they continue to look as good as they have, should not be an issue. That means, we need to keep promoting crimsons until we get to the week of April 23. We will see the market take an uptick. We may see the market move higher by April 20. It will depend on how many arrivals are schedule to come after that ominous April 10 deadline. Blacks: The Autumn Royals have been arriving in good shape. Fruit is solid and we see no issues. I don t think we will have supplies beyond the next couple of weeks. Let s see how demand is. Globes: Chile hasn t yet started to send the volumes on Red Globes. They have been picking and packing all the seedless varieties in an effort to get them here before April 10. Seeded varieties are not subject to the protocol of US # 1 upon arrival. Even if they were, red globes would have no problem making that standard. The globes that are arriving are very good! Kiss Melons: Golden Kiss and Honey Kiss look to be available around 5-12. Sugarkiss and Summerkiss are projected to start around 6-10 week. New this year will be an Organic Sugar Kiss Melon along with a Snow Kiss melon. Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to the season! Kiwi: Chilean kiwi has hit the market Italian has finished up. Domestic Kiwi through the end of May very good, high brix fruit. Limes: We will start seeing better supplies of larger limes in about three weeks. We will start to see prices start to trend downward over the next three weeks. Mangoes: Mangoes are plentiful loading out of Florida and Texas. Nicaraguan / Mexican Tommy Atkins and Ataulfo / Honey Mangoes available. Pears: Import Argentina Bartlett s supply is good and market continues to drop. Good supply of Anjou Pears out of Washington and market is steady. Raspberries: Raspberry supply remains very light across the industry. Central Mexico is producing much lower-than-projected yields while Oxnard production remains very minimal. Expect firm market pricing, multiple labels, and the possibility of pro rates throughout the week. Organics are in the same boat as conventional. STONE FRUIT: Peaches: Florida Peaches are available. Sizing is small at 2 ¼ please reach our to your RDW representative for more information. As mentioned a few weeks back, due to a cold snap freeze in late February, the front end of 2018 California Tree Fruit deal will be a light and sporadic start. We are a full 8 days behind last year s harvest dates. We had an inch of rain that fell over the weekend and temperatures in the low 70 s all this coming week. We will begin harvest around May 9th on Yellow Peaches. Our first 5 peach varieties are off around 35-40%. Nectarines: Early nectarines were also hit hard. We lost a good % of our Honey Mays to the freeze and will be hearing those numbers in the coming days (been hearing over 50% loss). So nectarines will be scarce for the first 3 weeks of May (you will be covered). White Peaches: Snow Angels & Snow drop were hit! After that, russdaviswholesale.com 800.332.7104 crazyfreshproduce.com 4
Mid-May & June White peaches seem to be normal. White Nectarines: Polar Lights were hit pretty hard. Lost about 45-50% of crop. Month of May white nectarines will be scarce (know you will be covered and ahead of the competition). Month of June will be better supplies on white nectarines. Plums: Plum crop was hit hard by the freeze. Plums will be a struggle all season. We will not see any decent supplies on plums until we get to 3rd week of June with Candy Black and Owen Tee. Strawberries: Strawberries remain very active. Projected yields for next week have dropped due to recent rainfall in the northern California growing region. Most shippers report being sold out for the balance of the week, but expect to bounce back with better volumes thereafter. Market price is holding steady for the time being, but may increase by mid-week pending the severity and longevity of this weeks shortage. Organics are expected to be very tight. Yields out of Baja continue to trend downward while recent rainfall in northern California has negatively affected overall supply. TOMATOES: Roma: Quality remains very good from most shipping points. Markets are steady and projected to stay low as Mexico is seeing an abundance of fruit currently. Great time to promote! Grape/Cherry: Quality is excellent. Markets are stable. Most of the product we are loading from Florida. Great time to promote! On the Vine: Markets are stable. Production from Canadian Hot Houses is excellent. There will be some lower priced Mexican product available. We will stay with new crop Canadian. Beefsteak: Market is declining with great production from Canadian Hot Houses. We will stay with new crop Canadian as much as possible. WATERMELON: Mexico watermelon are in good supply and market remains steady. Florida has started to harvest and Texas will be harvesting in a couple of weeks. Mini Seedless: Market is steady, quality is good from Mexico. ORGANIC New Items: 49075-12ct Organic Cantaloupe Up Next - Organic Ataulfo Mangoes in a couple weeks. Organic Honeydew in 1-2 weeks. Organic Baby Bok Choy: We have plenty of baby bok choy again. Organic Blueberries: We have beautiful California blueberries from Homegrown Organic Farms. Organic Brussels Sprouts: Brussels sprouts are from Mexico and California. Organic Grapes: We will see organic red and green grapes towards the end of May. Organic Grape Tomatoes: We are back into just carrying DelCabo grape tomatoes. Organic Fingerlings: We are done for the season with organic fingerling potatoes. Next season starts in June. Organic Jalapeños: Jalapeños have tightened up because the fields were attacked by a pepper weevil. Organic Mandarins: Both bagged and bulk murcotts mandarins are here! Season should go through April with promotions available all season. Organic Mangoes: We have tommy atkins mangoes from mexico, and ataulfos in a couple of weeks. Organic Parsnips: Done for the season with bulk and wrapped parsnips. May have some local over wintered parsnips in April, but otherwise out until fall. Organic Pomegranates: Pomegranate arils from Chile are here again! Organic Radishes: Bagged radishes from Cal-O will be gapping for a week or two while the radishes are allowed to size up. Organic Sweet Onions: Organic Vidalia onions will be here the for the first weekend in May! russdaviswholesale.com 800.332.7104 crazyfreshproduce.com 5