Texas produce and Mexican produce shipments will be gaining steam in the weeks ahead.
The Texas International Produce Association of Mission, TX reports Lone Star State citrus is starting; plus Texas herbs are being harvested and Texas cabbage will be available soon.
Onions are in the ground and Mexican imports of tomatoes, berries, tropical fruit, squash, bell peppers and more will be increasing.
Texas green and red cabbage started within the past week and Grow Farms Texas of Donna, TX will have Texas-grown onions for shipping in April and May.
The company has planted more Texas cabbage and is looking to expand its Texas onion volume. Grow Farms Texas has Italian sweet red onions planted for harvest in late April and May, depending on the weather.
Little Bear Produce of Edinburg, TX has leafy green, herbs and cabbage beginning in November.
Mexican Produce Imports
Mexican infrastructure has been off the charts allowing Texas as an additional port of entry option to Nogales.
Central Mexico is closer to the U.S. East Coast allowing the firm more a year-round option for many items.
“This upcoming season Grow Farms Texas will be increasing its Mexico winter vegetables.
The company will have good supplies of cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapeños, serranos, anaheims and poblanos. Cucumbers started the first week of November, while bell peppers are starting in mid-December. Hot peppers are available year-round from Mexico and has provided big growth.
Beating both Pharr, Texas, and Nogales, Ariz., the port of Laredo, Texas, was the top entry point for Mexican tomatoes from October 2019 to September.
With 13,238 truckloads, Laredo beat Pharr’s total of 9,760 (40,000-pound) truckloads and the 9,726 truckloads crossings through Nogales, according to the USDA.
Other important crossing points for Mexican tomatoes during the period were Otay Mesa, CA (1,798 truckloads); and Roma, Texas (1,498 truckloads).
More fresh potatoes are being purchased by consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic, boosting sales in most fresh categories and pushing sales of all potato products, including frozen, to five-year records.
Potatoes USA’s latest retail report charts the category’s growth from July through September as consumers continue to spend more at retail and less on food eaten outside of the home.
“Total store potato sales increased by 13.6 percent in dollar sales and 10.6 percent in volume sales, compared to the same time frame in 2019,” according to a Potatoes USA news release. “These sales levels are also the highest they have been for the past five years.”
The sales and volume information comes from Chicago research firm IRI.
The fresh category saw growth in numerous categories in the three-month period:
Overall fresh sales are up 16.4 percent in terms of dollars, and 10.6 percent in volume, despite retail price increases;
Medley, petite and yellow purchases had volume increases of more than 20 percent;
Five-pound bags still lead as the most-popular size, but 10-pound bags saw the largest increases, with 22 percent higher dollar sales and 20.4 percent volume increase; and
Bags larger than 10 pounds grew in dollar sales, but were the only category to fall in volume sales, at about 9 percent.
Frozen potatoes had the largest growth from the same three-month period in 2019, with almost 24 percent higher sales in dollars and 20 percent higher volumes. Deli sides is the only category at retail that declined compared to 2019, but the decline had slowed compared to the previous three-month period, according to the IRI numbers from Potatoes USA.
Imported Mexican produce shipments to the U.S. increased by double-digits in the second quarter of 2020, according to a transportation report from the USDA.
The Mexico Transport Cost Indicator Report reveals second quarter total reported shipments of fruits and vegetables from Mexico were 2.96 million tons, an 11 percent increase compared with the second quarter of 2019. The total of the top five commodities shipped from Mexico (figured on an annual basis: tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, avocados and squash) increased by 31,000 tons, or 6 percent.
Imported seedless watermelons entering the U.S. in the second quarter topped all fresh produce commodities for the quarter, with 297,000 tons shipped. However, that was down 19 percent from same quarter in 2019.
Truck rates
Truck rates for shipments of 501 miles to 1,500 miles from the Arizona border crossings averaged $2.55 per mile, up 1 percent quarter to quarter, but down 6 percent compared with the second quarter a year ago.
Rates for shipments of 501 miles to 1,500 miles from the Texas border crossings averaged $2.25 per mile, down by 10 percent quarter to quarter and down by 1 percent year to year.
Diesel fuel prices for border crossings through Texas averaged $2.21 per gallon for the quarter, compared with $2.60 per gallon for crossings through Arizona.
Avocado export volumes from Mexico were up by five percent from January to October of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019.
Volumes topped one million metric tons (MT), according to the Mexican Secretary of Agriculture. The value of exports, however, fell by seven percent for the same 10-month period with amounts registering at about $2.5 billion. For the entire 2019 year, Mexican avocado exports worldwide amounted to $3.1 billion dollars.
In past years, avocado consumption has risen consistently from 1.1 billion pounds 2008 to 2.6 billion in 2018, an annual increase of nine percent.
Hass avocados, dominate the U.S imports representing about 95 percent of the avocados consumed in the United States and 80 percent worldwide. The U.S. Hass avocado industry, in particular, had a value of $6.5 billion in 2019, according to the USDA.
The Hass Avocado Board of Mission Viejo, CA notes in 2017, nearly half of U.S. households bought avocados. However, most of the avocados sold in the US are imported from other countries.
In 2018, for example, 76 percent of the America’s total consumption was imported from Mexico The total export amount of Mexican avocados bound for the United States in 2019 tallied to approximately $2.4 million.
Peruvian lime exports are being threatened because of a drought in the northern part of the country, just a few weeks before the beginning of the peak summer shipping season.
The Association of Citrus Producers of Peru (ProCitrus) reports a possible shortage of the fruit and if the rains continue to be insufficient for the next two months.
A drought will lead to a plunge in production, either due to smaller sizes or because each acre yields fewer tons. It all depends on whether the drought continues. It is expected in the coming weeks the rains will begin to normalize, but if the drought continues, there could be a shortage.
The rains have been well below normal. Because of this, access to reservoir water has been restricted. Among citrus products, lime has the heaviest production in northern Peru.
In particular, it is found around Piura, the city that produced more than half of the national lime production in 2016.
Following in production are the cities Lambayeque, Tumbes, and the region Loreto, all in northern Peru. In the region of Piura, there are 45,351 acres designated for lime crops, distributed among the main producing valleys: San Lorenzo has 26,430 acres, while Chira has 10,991 acres and Chulucanas follows with 3,590 acres.
Limes are harvested the year around, but the months leading up to summer are considered the most important period of the year.
The lime varieties produced in Peru are Sutil and Tahiti. The former stays within the domestic market, while the latter is increasingly grown for export purposes. In 2019, 9,000 metric tons (MT) of Tahiti limes were exported, which represented a 55 percent increase from 2018.
The North Carolina State Port Authority has received a $16 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help pay for upgrades to triple the Port of Wilmington’s container capacity.
The USDOT’s Maritime Administration’s grant will support development of a new container gate complex at the port, according to a news release.
The overall project is part of a five-year, $200 million container expansion plan. The current container gate (channel for container trucks transporting cargo) isn’t adequate for forecasted container volumes, but when the expansion is complete, it will more than triple the container capacity. Inbound and outbound lanes for trucks are increasing, and a container operations building will be constructed.
The $16-million-grant is the largest single grant awarded to North Carolina ports yet, Brian Clark, chief operating officer.
“Improving the container gate has long been part of our infrastructure improvements plan at the Port of Wilmington,” he said. “We recognized early on the need for a more modern gate. Our terminal in Wilmington is known for its fast truck turn times and this modern complex will help us maintain the speed our customers expect.”
The project includes a new truck gate interchange with technology to improve safety and efficiency, according to the release.
There has been double-digit increases in demand for fresh produce at supermarkets, and the USDA projects that retail prices for fruits and vegetables will come in below historical averages.
The USDA reports, “Consumer Price Index growth for fruits and vegetables has been lower than the 20-year average of 2 percent,” according to its October 23rd Food Price Outlook.
Current projections indicate retail prices will continue to grow slower than the historical average.
“This aggregate decline is driven by a 0.5 percentdrop in the price of fresh vegetables,” the USDA reports. No growth and a 0.1 percent increase in the price of fresh fruits and processed fruits and vegetables only partially offset the decline of fresh vegetables, the agency said.
So far in 2020, compared to 2019, overall grocery prices have increased 3.4 percent, while restaurant prices have climbed 2.8 percent. Forecast for the full year, overall 2020 grocery prices are expected to increase between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent, while restaurant prices are projected to rise between 2 percent and 3 percent.
For 2021, the USDA said overall grocery prices will increase between 1 percent and 2 percent, while restaurant prices are expected to increase between 2 percent and 3 percent.
Remaining U.S. fresh apples remaining to be shipped on November 1 were 12 percent less than the same time last year, according to the first storage report of the season from the U.S. Apple Association of Falls Church, VA.
Fresh apple remaining in storage for shipping on November 1 were 117.5 million (42-pound) cartons, 12 percent less than the inventories the same time a year ago.
Processing holdings were 45 million cartons, 6 percent less than the same time last year. Total apples in storage on November 1 were 162.5 million cartons, 10 percent less than a year ago and 4 percent below the 5-year average for that date.
The U.S. Apple fresh inventories on November 1, with percent change compared with a year ago:
Gala: 24.2 million cartons, down 15 percent ; and
Red delicious: 21.17 million cartons, down 24 percent;
Honeycrisp: 15.34 million cartons, up 3.6 percent;
Granny smith: 13.37 million cartons, down 15 percent;
Golden delicious: 5.01 million cartons, down 38 percent.
Cosmic Crisp: 1.631 million cartons, up 533 percent.
Resilience is an important part of this industry and this year is no exception.
I believe this quote by John Rockefeller perfectly describes the current state of our industry. “If you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the work paths of accepted success.”
The way growers, shippers, retailers, and transportation providers deal with ever constant change, have determined their success in the new “norm” we live in today.
Sales obviously has had to adapt, as well. The conventions that take place throughout the year have all taken place virtually and the in-person handshakes have been replaced by video chat requests. The most common word used to describe this year’s market is “uncertain” and with many clients working from home they depend on us more than ever to not just provide fair rates but to educate them about what we are seeing and hearing in the market.
Although rates started out lower than expected for summer, freight rates increased quickly and the usual decrease after the 4th of July never happened. This left many clients scrambling, looking to secure capacity for their supply chain.
Our team at Allen Lund Company stood by our clients, growing year-over-year and absorbing costs on a percentage of our freight. Much of the success in expanding our base over the past seven months is due to the hardworking, essential employees throughout our offices working diligently with our clients to navigate the road ahead.
As we prepare for the holidays, our industry and companies’ resilience will once again be put to the test. California outbound freight is now seeing dry van rates surpass the refrigerated freight market. Many of the large cultural festivals that occur during this time are not taking place in person, however, we still anticipate drivers continuing to take time off to spend time with family.
Keeping an open dialogue with the companies we work with allows them to keep surprises to a minimum and in turn, help them service their own customers and consumers. While the upcoming holidays will be different for everyone, we know that our customers depend on and appreciate the resilience of our team.
Braden Goodere began working for the Allen Lund Company in September of 2013 as a business development specialist. In September 2019, he was promoted to business development manager. Goodere joined the company with many years of experience in agriculture, having grown up on a ranch. He attended Cal Poly-SLO and received a BS in agribusiness finance.
Have you ever eaten a hot dog that tastes like a carrot? Neither have we, but that’s about to change.
Bolthouse Farms of Bakersfield, CA has developed a new lineup of “carrot swaps.”
The name of the line is Wunderoots, and it includes Carrot Dogs, Carrot Fettuccine and Riced Carrot.
Both the Carrot Rice and Carrot Fettuccine kits can be prepared on a stove top or in the microwave. Carrot Dogs are designed to be grilled, according to a news release.
Bolthouse recommends merchandising all items from the line in the value-added section of the produce department. The Wunderoots items are expected to debut in spring 2021.
Carrot Dogs may be the most unusual the bunch. In creating the hot dog alternative, the company shaves carrots into the shape of a traditional hot dog, brines them for a smoky flavor, packages them and puts them through high pressure processing so they have a longer shelf life.
Bolthouse has three flavors of the Carrot Dog: Classic American, Chorizo and Sweet Italian.
While the product still tastes like a carrot, it is seasoned with spices traditionally not used as much with produce, and it has the texture of a hot dog.
Bolthouse contends it’s just the beginning of finding kind of new and creative ways to make, in this case carrots, but a broader mission on that is really about making plants more fun, more exciting.
The company expresses optimism about the Riced Carrot product, which will be available with sauces including Sesame Stir Fry, Green Chile and Yellow Coconut Curry.
Consumers are used to kind of vegetable noodles, but this vegetable rice is much better nutritionally than eating white rice.
The Carrot Fettuccine kits will be available with sauce options Marinara, Spicy Thai Basil and Red Coconut Curry.
