MARKET UPDATE WEEK # 46

Good Morning,

A streak of unseasonably cold weather continues to make things difficult for South Eastern growing regions. This trend has especially slowed down harvests on CABBAGE. In what seemed like overnight, the market went from low cost and competitive, to incredibly scarce. Market is moving up and there will be no relief until we see warmer conditions in the South East.

Transition is fully underway as California veg shippers are harvesting most of their product from Arizona and the Imperial Valley. LETTUCE and LEAF are nearly exclusive to Yuma, BROCCOLI and CAULIFLOWER are in both CA and AZ, and CELERY is being transferred in from Southern California. Markets will continue to fluctuate for the next several weeks as we settle into the winter season.

Truck costs have surged this week as the number of trucks ordered for the holiday is said to be seven times more than the amount of trucks available. Being in South Florida, we aren't producing much this time of year. Without many products for trucks to reload, there is little incentive for any truck to make the trip down to South Florida. This gives the trucking companies all the leverage when it comes to pricing. In the next few weeks, we will be fully into Florida season, giving trucks an assortment of reloads to choose from. Freight rates from AZ to Miami are also much more affordable than hauling a load from Northern California. It looks like the elevated freight costs should be a brief bump for the holiday.

IMPORT Stone fruit is starting to show up in a light way. There are some higher priced options on two-layer APRICOTS and PEACHES. We should see more and more import fruit show up over the next month. California BLACK PLUMS are the last of the domestic stone fruit available and may carry on through the end of the month.

GRAPES are approaching the end of their domestic season. The fruit in California is pretty much all out of storage at this point. The clock will start to tick on shelf life so please be mindful of your inventories. RED SEEDLESS will most likely show better quality than GREEN SEEDLESS but please understand this is a seasonal change. Import grapes should pick up as we move into December.

Thanksgiving Holiday is next week! Please send over your orders as soon as possible as all containers will be picked up by Wednesday next week.

Don't forget to keep an eye out for our WEEKLY FRESH in your email and on our website. Have a great rest of the week.

More as it happens,

Parker Tannehill