Posts Tagged “Hurricane Kay”
Hurricane Kay hit Mexico’s west coast May 8th and mango shipments will be torpedoed, and vegetables also are likely to follow.
Kay’s wind and rain during Mexico’s monsoon season is likely bringing an early end to mango shipments, with more short-term challenges for vegetable exports.
Grow Farms in Donna, TX reports Mexican mango shippers were challenged this summer, and hurdles stand the remainder of their Mexican season.
Mango production is over in Rosario in southern Sinaloa, and the focus has completely shifted to Los Mochis in the north, where rain and overcast skies have stopped production and kept harvest crews out of the fields. The season already had been forecast to end in late September under normal conditions, but many in the region have already shut down for the season.
Those continuing to ship face very low mango yields and will have to watch quality very closely.
Mango shipments will stay in tight supply for the next three- to five-weeks. Meanwhile U.S. buyers and shippers are expected to fill in with Brazilian fruit.
Mango volume should return to normal once Ecuador starts but this will not happen until mid-October or so.
Concerning vegetable shipments, Hurricane Kay will adversely affect Baja and possibly the Coachella Valley. Cucumber, squash, Roma, and Round tomato shipments will plunge over the next week because of the storm. Kay will certainly affect the Baja vegetable loadings in three or four weeks.
While monsoons are common in Sonora and Sinaloa, sometimes those seasons are dry, proving detrimental to winter crops, especially when water is insufficient to fill irrigation lakes.
In seasons like this one, which are very wet, delays in planting occur for the upcoming season.
Full reservoirs are great news for the season going forward, but recent rain will result in a later and lighter start to the harvest.
Most affected will be early cucumbers, melons, and summer squash in northern Sonora.
Grow Farms is predicting the following for Mexican vegetable shipments 12:
Sinaloa beans should start in early- to mid-November. Volume will be on the market by early December.
Sonora cucumbers are delayed, with harvest pushed back from late September to mid-October. Sonora cuke volume will be in place by early November.
Sinaloa cucumbers will start in early November, with volume by the middle of the month.
Sonora eggplant will have light volume in late October, with, at best, limited production.
To the south, Sinaloa eggplant will be on the market in early November with volume by mid-November.
Sonora green Bell peppers are delayed until mid- to late-November.
Green Bells from Sinaloa will be on the market in the last week of November or in early December. Volume should be on the market by mid-December.