MARKET UPDATE 05.19.24

Good afternoon,

CHERRY fruit is in peak production in California! The California season is short, generally covering the month of May, but we are cresting on the best week of the 4-6 week season. We will have good supplies on 16/1 lb CLAMSHELLS next week in a 10 row size. Moving forward, we will see the Washington Cherry season start up in June. Hopefully there is some crop overlap because that just might lead to some aggressive CHERRY pricing.

High volumes of STRAWBERRIES are being reported for the next few weeks as we now see production from SANTA MARIA, OXNARD, and the SALINAS VALLEY. When we see a large push in volume like this, the overflow of fruit leaves growers sitting on blocks rather than harvesting them on schedule. This can lead to some overripeness or darker red fruit in packs. We do two things to combat this, we continue to stick with EXPORT PACK FRUIT, that is harvested 48 hours or so before full maturity, and we get our STRAWBERRIES from the COOLEST climate we can, and in this case that is fruit from the Salinas Valley. Look for better pricing on STRAWBERRIES for the next few weeks.

CAULIFLOWER supplies have settled this week bringing market pricing down to lower levels. As the sun shines just a little bit more on the valley this week, we are starting to see relief on CAULIFLOWER and other items.

LETTUCE and ROMAINE have yet to see the increase in production we have been hoping for for the last few weeks. There are signs of improvement, some growers having extra smaller lettuce to sell, but the overall market remains short on LETTUCE and LEAF. This should be a sign of good things to come but as always, we require Mother Nature's participation to make things happen.

Next week, we will have our first shot of desert HONEYDEWS and CANTALOUPES! The import market was healthy for a good time but we are starting to see quality issues with the late season fruit. So, we move out WEST! Pricing out of the desert is comparable to start, which is a good sign, but we will know a little more about this market once the import fruit dries up.

More as it happens,

Parker Tannehill