MARKET UPDATE WEEK # 27 - 2020

Good Afternoon,

The Farmers to Families Food Box Program will continue through July and August. We will see a comparable response from markets to the first round; POTATOES, CARROTS, APPLES, ORANGES, ONIONS, and other staple commodities, will see a bump in demand, especially on VALUE-ADDED skews.
Roughly 20% of this year's Washington APPLE production currently remains in storage. The excess inventory should help keep markets in check, and the wrap around season intact. Smaller fruit continues to be particularly sought after.

PLANTAIN supplies out of Guatemala are struggling due to rain. Supplies out of Ecuador are trickling into the South East at a rate far too slow to satisfy demand.

CALIFORNIA VEG commodities are seeing increased demand this week. Supplies are weak on BROCCOLI, LEAF, and ROMAINE.

The combination of increased demand and weakened supply has sent ROMAINE pricing up dramatically. Shippers are holding prices day to day and prorating orders. These price increases are likely to hold for ROMAINE and ROMAINE HEARTS for at least the next two weeks.

BROCCOLI continues to be in a bad spot as most shippers are way behind on supply with an incredibly active market. Quality concerns remain due to all the heat this month. There is a sense of the market coming off, but that will most likely happen sometime next week.

ASPARAGUS markets shot up this week as we predicted. Lower volumes stateside and slow supplies out of Mexico and Peru are the root cause of the market movement.

This year has been tough for VEG growers up the eastern seaboard. Rain completely wiped out Georgia cabbage on the transition down south, and we are seeing the same thing on the transition back up north! SQUASH, BELL PEPPER, and CABBAGE have been regulars in our market update for the past month, and there are not many changes to speak of for this week.

CHERRIES and California STONE FRUIT are in season, grab some while supplies last!

Please try and get your orders in early next week as ship lines will be closed on Friday in observance of Independence Day. Keep an eye out for the Weekly fresh specials!

More as it happens,
Parker Tannehill