MARKET UPDATE WEEK # 10 - 2020

Good Afternoon,

This Sunday March 8th, we will spring forward and move our clocks up an hour. A policy that is an annoyance to many, still does remind us that we are on the brink of spring! Here in FLORIDA, cool winter like conditions started this week off, but things have since warmed up. We will see some cold weather breach the state on Friday which could shake some markets up a bit, but conditions will warm up rapidly. Out west in Mexico, California, and Arizona, the themes are similar. Seasonable conditions with moderate showers and mostly cool weather warming into the weekend.

MELONS continue to have great supplies. HONEYDEWS and CANTALOUPES are seeing supplies overlap out of several areas. HONDURAS, COSTA RICA, GUATEMALA, and MEXICO are all producing solid fruit. Markets are well supplied, so this continues to be a buyers' market.

LIME production is favoring larger sizes - 150's and larger. We are late in the deal and still a few weeks out from new production. We should see the trend continue for at least another few week's as the gap between small and large sizes widens.

We continue to see GOOD VOLUMES on IMPORT GRAPES. Over the next few weeks, we should expect a decline in arrivals and markets to get active later this month. Mexico is next in line for big production, but we may see a gap between both regions in late March.

BLACK and RASPBERRIES are in better shape coming out of Mexico this week. BLUEBERRIES are still seeing light import supplies out of Chile and Peru. Once Mexico gets volume on blues, we should see this market get better. STRAWBERRIES are seeing stronger demand this week. Production has been solid so far, but we are nearing the end of FLORIDA harvests.

BROCCOLI out of Mexico is starting to tighten up. Some shippers have great supplies in both North and Central America, but the fact that some major players are coming up short has been enough to move the market up a few bucks. We will see if this theme moves on to other commodities like LETTUCE, LEAF, and CELERY. As for now, volume remains strong on those items.

COOLER weather in Florida has firmed up markets again this week. It seems like we can't go a week without a cold snap and that is really keeping things tight. PEPPER, SQUASH, TOMATOES, and most FL veg has levelled off at above average pricing. We should start to see some warmth over the next few weeks which should help push supplies forward.

More as it happens,
Parker Tannehill