MARKET UPDATE WEEK # 9 2020

Good Afternoon,

As we near the end of Spring, favorable weather continues out of most growing regions. The desert out west is producing tons of product, well ahead of demand, while Mexico is starting to recover from treacherous rains in the month of January. In Florida, we have had seasonable conditions but a small cold front this week is looking to shake things up a bit!

ASPARAGUS markets have softened in recent weeks. Growing regions out of Mexico are starting to recover and produce some good volume. We expect ASPARAGUS to remain readily available for the next few weeks.

AVOCADO DOUBLES are a bit tight this week. Import volumes are on the lighter side but there are some other options around. Homestead is producing late season varieties and we are still seeing CARLA varieties arrive from the D.R.

BLUEBERRY supplies continue to be a challenge. We are a few weeks out from real FLORIDA production and CHILEAN imports have been hit or miss. MEXICO is producing, but not quite enough to saturate markets. We could see this gap in production widen next week with all the COLD weather in Florida.

GRAPE arrivals continue to gain strength with Chilean volumes picking up. GREEN and RED grapes are both in good supply. GLOBES and BLACK seedless are harvested out of Chile later than their red and green counterparts, so we will see a little less availability on them for the time being.

LIMES are TIGHT on sizes 175 and smaller. This may be the case for the remainder of the season.

Cool weather hitting Florida this week is slowing down production on several commodities. SQUASH and PEPPER are both falling behind demand as the chilly temperatures stunt growth. We will only see these markets get better once conditions warm up next week.

CAULIFLOWER remains tight this week. More of the same as some shippers have 12's, some have 16's, but everyone is falling behind demand.

We are nearing the end of Spring and with that, several TROPICALS will see the end of their production here in S Florida. Summer crops will start in May and June but historically speaking, summer crops bring both irregular supplies and spotty harvest quality.

Favorable weather in the desert gives us some hope that we can maintain another month of aggressive markets on items like LETTUCE, LEAF, and BROCCOLI!

More as it happens,
Parker Tannehill