Southern California Loadings

Produce shipments out of Southern California are entering decent volume for strawberries, but avocado loadings will be limited for awhile.  Better weather conditions compared to a year ago have strawberries loadings more than double over 2011 volume.  About 25 to 30 percent of California’s total strawberry shipments come from Ventura County and south.  Overall, California is forecast to ship 176 million trays of strawberries this year.

As for avocados, Californa expects to move nearly 400 million trays.  Loading opportunities from California have been less than normal as many West Coast shippers are holding onto product waiting for big volumes from Mexico and Chile to subside.  Expect significant increases in California avocado shipments come April.

From the Bakersfield area, there’s about 300 truckload equivalents of carrots being shipped weekly….There also is fair volume with items such as lettuce, celery, cauliflower and broccoli being loaded from the Coachella and Imperial valleys of the California desert.

Southern California berries, citrus is grossing about $5500 to New York City.

Imperial Valley veggies – about $3600 to Chicago.