MARKET UPDATE AUGUST 16-20, 2021

Good afternoon,

Warmer conditions are making matters difficult in several growing regions. CALIFORNIA, CANADA, and MICHIGAN are all seeing temperatures above 90 degrees fahrenheit. These conditions are obviously less than ideal, and have resulted in quality defects in commodities like, LETTUCE and LEAFY GREENS, STRAWBERRIES, SQUASH, EGGPLANT, CUCUMBERS, CAULIFLOWER, ORANGES, LEMONS, and several others.

There seem to be a few items escaping the summer heat, ASPARAGUS being one of them! Supplies are coming in strong out of PERU and MEXICO, providing a buyers market on ASPARAGUS. Both quality and price are in great shape.

If you've been reading the past few weeks you are well aware that we are now into new crop VALENCIA ORANGES. The quality has improved from the late season navels, but due to all of the heat and back to school demand, the market has tightened up. The next few weeks of weather will be critical as the VALENCIA season gets going.

We only have a few weeks of availability left of WASHINGTON CHERRIES. As we near the end of the season, please keep in mind that the fruit does not continue to ripen once harvested, so any fruit available later in the season has been on the tree longer and is more susceptible to defects. It's often said that you don't want to be the first in (due to under ripe cherries) or last out buying CHERRIES (due to older fruit being more prone to damage).

New crop APPLES continue to accumulate some volume. The majority of new fruit is still only GINGER GOLD and GALA varieties, but availability on other new crop varieties should broaden over the next few weeks.

CELERY and CABBAGE are available out of several growing regions; California, Canada, and Michigan. The increase in availability has loosened the markets significantly. CELERY is still going to be pricier out of California due to freight. CABBAGE will also see a tiered market, higher prices for US products or Canadian products with significant weight. Some growers in Canada will receive freight subsidies from their government, allowing them to beat out domestic growers who gain little to no help from public policy.

GOLD KIWI prices are up $1 due to the increase in packaging and labor costs. The fruit continues to fly off the shelves and if you have not added the GOLD KIWI CLAMSHELLS to your inventory, call and ask about a sample for loading next week!

More as it happens,

Parker Tannehill