MARKET UPDATE 11.10.24

Good afternoon,

LETTUCE and ROMAINE pricing has surged but, believe it or not, for good reason! Salinas crops are finishing up in the late season cold and the short production cycle in Huron is already coming to a close. We already have bookings for loading LETTUCE and ROMAINE in YUMA ARIZONA this week! As of next week, we will have only HURON or YUMA lettuce and romaine! Hopefully, we can leave that late season bruising behind us. So although pricing is higher, it looks to be temporary and a sign of new production to come.

BROCCOLI, CAULIFLOWER, and the other California cruciferous veggies still have a few weeks left in Northern California. Hearteir greens, they will run later into the colder weather and also start later in the warmer Arizona climate. We expect BROCCOLI and CAULIFLOWER to start in YUMA sometime next week. For another few weeks, we unfortunately expect to see some discoloration and other signs of late season wear and tear.

Fall GRAPE varieties are nearing the end of their season. BLACK SEEDLESS grapes are the first to finish as several growers are already quoting blacks as SOLD OUT. GREENS and REDS out of California will follow behind as we will see a significant drop off in supply over the next few weeks. PERUVIAN RED and GREEN SEEDLESS are just getting started so we hope to see some overlap in the two production cycles.

HONEYDEW and CANTALOUPE are in good supply out of Arizona, however sizing remains large. The theme of larger fruit will continue over the next few weeks as desert production and the first arrivals of IMPORT fruit are all early season. Early season almost always equals larger fruit. We should see better availability of smaller sizing as we get closer to December.

For the remainder of the year, we are more than likely to experience serious difficulties in TOMATO markets. Florida and Georgia growers have next to nothing to offer, so much of the Caribbean, South, North, and Central America, will pull product out of Mexico. All of this demand focused on one major growing region will continue to result in much higher pricing until January or maybe only late december if we are lucky.

More as it happens,

Parker Tannehill