Here’s a look at possible loading opportunities for fresh fruits and vegetable across the U.S.
South Texas
Primarily thanks to imports from Mexico this is one of the most active areas for produce hauls.
Mexican blueberry imports through South Texas are getting a boost because of problems in California. Movement out of Chile is increasing. However, availability is being limited by a backlog unloading Chinese container ships at West Coast ports, with ships waiting as long as two weeks for berths. This slowdown is also affecting quality of the berries on these ships, leading to an increase in demand for fresher Mexican blueberries.
Increasing movement on Mexico strawberries crossing through Texas is expected with over 400 truck loads weekly happening now. However, avocados are triple this amount in volume. Over 1200 loads of vine ripe and plum tomatoes are now crossing weekly. Of course, there are dozens of other smaller volume items available as well.
Lower Rio Grande Valley Mexican produce – grossing about $6700 to New York City.
Florida
Shipments of Florida winter tomatoes are normally providing decent volume this time of year, but cool weather is holding back production. This also is true with dozens of other vegetable items.
Arizona
The Yuma area is rolling pretty good led by head lettuce and romaine averaging around 1700 truck loads per week. There also are lesser amounts of other veggies here, as well as across the state line in California’s Imperial and Coachella Valleys. Meanwhile, Mexican crossings at Nogales continue with a wide range of veggies.
Yuma area lettuce – grossing about $5900 to Chicago.
Miscellaneous States
Colorado’s San Luis Valley is moving around 500 truckloads of potatoes each week….There’s much less spud volume available from Central Wisconsin and the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota.
Eastern North Carolina continues to ship sweet potatoes, but there are less than 200 truck loads per week.