MARKET UPDATE WEEK # 7 - 2020

Good Afternoon,

As conditions start to settle, BERRIES find themselves in a rough spot! After several weeks of great volume on all varieties, we are now seeing the rain and wind of the past few weeks catch up with the fruit. BLUES are in tight supply as volumes out of Peru and Mexico have dropped significantly. Once Chilean arrivals become more frequent, we should see improvement on availability and price of BLUEBERRIES.

RASPBERRY and STRAWBERRY supplies out of Mexico have been pretty much RAINED OUT. FLORIDA STRAWBERRIES are now the best available, but there is not quite enough supply to cover demand. After Valentine's Day, strawberry markets traditionally come DOWN. It will be interesting to see how seriously the Mexican supply shortage affects the domestic market.

GRAPE markets are improving. We are seeing more opportunity on Chilean fruit for next week, which has loosened up the market. BLACK SEEDLESS and RED GLOBES will be the last varieties to start in Chile and are a few weeks away from any serious volume. RED and GREEN SEEDLESS are in a much better spot next week!

GINGER and GARLIC are in a slight production gap out of CHINA. The Chinese New Year started January 25th this year and the annual festivities have disrupted distribution. Also called, The Spring Festival, this celebration lasts around 15 days each year. During this period, production slows in China and leaves GINGER and GARLIC supplies short around the globe! Distributors are fighting over Spanish and Argentinian garlic, but there is not enough to go around. These markets will be active for another few weeks.

Most of the west coast commodities are in good shape this week. With warm, dry weather in the forecast, we don't expect to see much trouble in the upcoming weeks for commodities like, BROCCOLI, ROMAINE, LETTUCE and LEAF.

The mixture of cloud coverage, rain, and wind the past few weeks in Florida has made it very difficult for production to pick up. SQUASH, EGGPLANT, CUCUMBERS and PEPPERS, are all slightly behind where they should be this time of year. The same items grown out of Mexico suffered through even worse conditions, leaving several markets in question, especially TOMATOES.

The severe conditions we have seen over the past few weeks in Mexico have damaged several different crops. TOMATOES may have gotten the worst of the damage. Reports are stating that volume is 50 percent of what it was at this point last year. The rain completely stopped harvests for several days. Now that the rain has slowed a bit, the temperatures are still nearing low 40's. These conditions are stunting the growth and maturation of the product. Hopefully, we will get some much-needed warmth and see some stronger supplies like we are used to when it comes to tomatoes in February.

More as it happens,
Parker Tannehill