MARKET UPDATE WEEK # 40

Good Afternoon,

Weather in the Salinas Valley has improved over the past week. Unfortunately, we are near the end of the Salinas season, and the high temperatures of the past few months have done some damage. The first commodity to finish up will be LETTUCE, followed by ROMAINE, then CAULIFLOWER and BROCCOLI later next month. Conditions improving this late in the deal bring the term, "too little, too late" to mind, as markets are just not starting to take off!

The CAULIFLOWER market is just one of many rising markets this week. Most, if not all, shippers are seeing a gap in supply. Previous heat pushed crops way ahead of schedule, forcing a gap in crop rotation. Basically, the old crop finishes before the new crop is ready. This is a common theme in this week's Market Update.

ROMAINE and ROMAINE HEARTS are seeing a lot of the same issues as CAULIFLOWER. Warmer weather from previous weeks damaged crops and supplies are now in a demand exceeds situation. We are expecting to see markets to continue to climb as we approach the end of the season in Salinas and the beginning of the season in Yuma.

ICEBERG is seeing the most adversity of all the lettuce and leaf commodities. We are seeing bruising, brown butts, drastically short supplies, and markets climbing daily; all shippers are prorating orders. Some growers will harvest in HURON, CA, which may alleviate some of the burden on Salinas supply. While some harvest out in HURON, others are stuck with SALINAS supply until YUMA starts up in MID-NOVEMBER. To pile on to our lettuce problems, hail and rain storms damaged acres of product during planting in Yuma. We are going to see market activity for at least another few weeks and there is no telling what supplies out of Arizona will look like as of yet.

CHILEAN LEMONS are winding down! With the import market cleaning up, the better quality is surely on domestic fruit. The price will be higher but any clean up deals on import fruit will be sure to have quality issues.

HONEYDEWS are starting to take off. Short supplies towards the end of the season are not able to keep up with demand. Volumes are decreasing as we approach the end of the CA season. WATERMELONS are in a similar situation domestically but coupled with IMPORT and MEXICO volumes decreasing.

RED SEEDLESS GRAPES are in great supply! MED/LG supplies are in abundance and are a great item for a SPECIAL! Check out our WEEKLY FRESH this week for an awesome deal on RED SEEDLESS GRAPES!!

Please understand that with rising markets, our pricing will reflect FRESH PRODUCT. There is no way around it besides selling old inventory from last weeks market. Please beware and don't get stuck with old product!

More as it happens,
Parker Tannehill