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Here is an overview of citrus imports arriving at US ports in the coming weeks and months. A significant trend is with sweet, easy-peel citrus ranging from clementines to Mandarins and Minneolas and others.
Chilean clementines – available from late May through August.
South African clementines – available from mid-June to July, and from Uruguay in May and June.
Australian late-season Mandarins -in late September through mid-October. From Chile and South Africa, they will be available from September through October.
Mandarins from Uruguay will be available July and August, and from Peru they will be available from mid-August through mid-September.
Australian Minneolas from Australia will be available from late August through September and from Peru from mid-July through August. Daisy Mandarins from Australia will be available in late June and July.
The vast majority of easy peelers and Navels produced in Chile are shipped to the U.S. market. Clementine imports from Chile should amount to 23,638 tons down slightly from last season. However, a large increase in Mandarin exports — from 30,096 tons to 43,338 tons is forecast. In total, the entire easy-peeler category is expected to grow by nearly 19 percent.
Mandarin exports to the US are showing strong growth — 44 percent — with heaviest volume arriving from mid-August through early November.
Chile exports citrus to the US from May through October; Clementines from May through August.
Late Mandarins from Chile are available from August through October.
The first conventional vessel of citrus from South Africa arrived at the port of Philadelphia on June 15 with about 3,800 pallets of easy peelers and Navel oranges Two additional vessels were scheduled to arrive by June 25 and July 6.
The detailed shipping plan from South Africa has conventional vessels arriving through October about every 10-12 days, based on market demand.
Container vessels with smaller volumes will arrive between to assure a steady supply of citrus.
Good volume is shaping for summer produce shipments out of both Michigan and New York state.
Michigan Produce Shipments
Blueberry shipments out of Michigan get underway around the 4th of July, with celery loadings coming the following week. Cucumbers get started around July 10th, with peppers getting underway the third week of July. Look for Michigan sweet corn shipmetns about July 20.
Yellow squash and zucchini have just started.
Michigan’s asparagus movement ended about 10 days ago. The state harvested an average crop of 9,500 acres of asparagus, of which about half this volume went to the fresh market.
As much as two-thirds of Michigan’s carrot shipments goes to the processing market. The fresh market harvest is set to begin in September, with shipments running into January. Michigan carrots are planted by seed and the 2015 crop was in the ground by mid-June.
Michigan onion shipments will start in mid-September.
New York Produce Shipments
Coming soon will be dozens of different vegetables. Summer squash loadings have started and many others such as potatoes get underway with the arrival of July.
Apples are perhaps New York state’s biggest crops. A good shipping season that starts the last half of August is expected.
Light to moderate volume of old crop apples still shipping – Hudson Valley apples grossing about $2000 to Atlanta.
Here’s a look at Northwest fruit shipments, the upcoming pear season, and a glimpse at summertime imports from South American and Mexico.
Northwest cherry shipments are peaking, but loadings will probably be down significantly by mid-July. After a slow start due to late rains, Washington cherry shipments have hit stride the second half of June, with plenty of loadings heading into the Fourth of July. No record cherry shipments are seen this season, with the crop likely topping out at 16 million to 17 million boxes.
Pear Shipments
2015 fresh pear shipments forecast at nearly 20.4 million boxes. which is 2 percent higher than the five-year average, and 2percent lower than the 2014 crop. Loadings should begin about a week earlier than last season, starting in late July.
Apple shipments, pear shipments from the old crop, and new crop cherry shipments – grossing about $4500 to Chicago, $7500 to New York City.
Chilean Orange Imports
The initial arrivals of Chilean imported navel oranges arrived recently in the U.S. with 11,200 boxes on the boat. Future arrivals at US ports on both coast will build in the weeks ahead and continue into early November.
Asparagus Imports
Good supplies of imported asparagus are arriving from Central Mexico by truck a US border crossings and by boat at US ports from Peru. “Grass” is a popular grilling item with many Americans over the Independence holiday.
Carrots and other vegetables are rich in beta carotene and zeaxanthin, which may lower the risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a recent study.
The study drew on data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, an examination of chronic disease in ten European countries, according to a news release from Westlake Village, Calif.-based Dole Food Co.
Study participants who originally had the highest levels of beta-carotene or zeaxanthin in their blood had only about half the risk of developing pancreatic compared with those who had the lowest levels. The study also found that with each doubling of beta-carotene, sum of carotenoids or zeaxanthin in the blood, the risk of pancreatic cancer was reduced by 15%, 22% and 19%, respectively.
Dole recommends consumers eat carrots, sweet potatoes, squash and pumpkin to get their beta carotene. For zeaxanthin, the company recommends spinach, kale, romaine, broccoli, and brussels sprouts. In Dole’s Kale and Carrot Tart recipe, dark green and orange vegetables are combined for an entrée packed with beta-carotene and zeaxanthin.
Kern County, California in the Bakersfield area is shipping carrots and potatoes – grossing about $6700 to Baltimore.
Publix and Trader Joe’s for the third year in a row, have been ranked by shoppers as their favorite grocery stores.
A Market Force study of 7,200 shoppers conducted online in April ranked the Monrovia, Calif.-based Trader Joe’s first, the Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix Super Markets Inc., second and the Batavia, Ill.-based Aldi Inc., third, according to a Trader Joe’s news release.
The survey studied consumers’ grocery shopping habits and preferences, rating Trader Joe’s at 78% in consumer satisfaction and Publix at 74%.
Rounding out the top fiver were Aldi, Hy-Vee Food Stores Inc., West Des Moines, Iowa, and H.E.B., San Antonio. Among the top brands were Boise, Idaho-based Albertson’s and WinCo Foods and Bentonville, Ark.-based Sam’s Club who made this year’s list after failing to garner enough mentions in 2014, according to the release.
Publix and Trader Joe’s led in many areas, including cashier courtesy, fast checkouts and cleanliness, while Aldi, WinCo and Costco Wholesale Corp., Issaquah, Wash., took the top spots in the value category.
Shop-Rite Supermarkets, Edison, N.J., scored highest for sales and promotions while H.E.B, Hy-Vee and Kroger Co., Cincinnati, performed well in most areas.
Other study findings: nearly half prefer to buy organic products, 28% are buying prepared foods at least weekly, up 10% from 2014 and 39% have used a grocery app, primarily for coupons.
Louisville, Colo.-based Market Force is a global customer intelligence company that provides information for retailers, restaurants, financial institutions, entertainment studios and consumer packaged goods companies.
Eastern Shore vegetable shipments are underway for the summer from Virginia, Delaware and Maryland.
Fresh produce shipments typically start in early June, but those crops were a little late because of a cooler spring. Growers produce two fresh-crop seasons, except for potatoes which have just one season.
Virginia potato shipments began around June 20, and will be in full swing with good loadings by early July
Although numerous fresh produce items are grown in the Eastern Shore region, Virginia’s main crop is potatoes, which has between 3,000 and 4,000 acres.
Most of the potatoes produced in Virginia are shipped throughout the eastern U.S., as far west as the Mississippi River and include red, white, yellow and russet potatoes. When northern areas are not producing, much of the crop is distributed in those regions. When the Southern states stop producing, shipments are redirected to the South. Some of potatoes are distributed in Canada.
Dublin Farms in Horntown is one of the state’s biggest potato shippers.
The Eastern Shore also has significant acreage in tomatoes and green beans, with C&E Farms in Cheriton being the largest shipper of green beans. The farming operation produces about 750,000 bushels of beans annually off of its 5,000 acres.
The two major tomato operations on the shore are expected to produce about the same volumes of round, Roma, grape, cherry and heirloom tomatoes during this season, which runs from late June through September.
It should be a good summer for produce truckers who haul fruit out of the Northwest.
Cherry shipments are underway, while most other stone fruit crops will begin in mid-July, picking up speed as the calendar switches to August, and then going strong until the end of the month, with the late fruit still shipping out in early September. Northwest stone fruit shipments to Canada have been showing significant increases in recent years.
A little over one-third of American households purchase peaches, five times more than buy kale. Kale, of course, is the hot, trendy vegetable in America these days.
Apricot production ramped up in early June and was expected to continue through the month. Apricots are expected to be similar in size to last year’s large 7,500 ton crop. Organic apricots are making their mark. It may only be 2 percent of the U.S. category, but it’s growing at three times the rate of conventional.
Pear Shipments
The 2015 fresh pear shipments are forecast at nearly 20.4 million box equivalents, which equates to approximately 451,000 tons of fresh pears. The projection is 2 percent higher than the five-year average, and 2 percent lower than last year’s crop. The estimate was collected from fresh pear growers in Wenatchee and Yakima, WA, and Mid-Columbia and Medford, OR, growing districts.
Northwest pear shipments start in late July with Starkrimson, followed by the Bartlett harvest in early August. Anjou, Red Anjou, Bosc, Comice, Concorde, Forelle and Seckel will be picked from late August through September.
Apples, pears and cherries – grossing about $7300 to Orlando.
Michigan blueberry shipments will be down this season, but it’s a matter of how much. In New Jersey, blueberry shipments should be similar to a year ago.
Two bitterly cold winters back-to-back hit blueberry bushes in Michigan, causing “winter kill” that will reduce shipments for the 2015 season.
The severity of damage varies widely, though, with some growers saying the crop will be “slightly smaller” and others saying some varieties in some areas will be down 50 percent. Still, decent volume is being predicted for Michigan blueberries starting the second week of July with strong shipments through the end of August and possibly into September.
Michigan apples and vegetables – grossing about $900 to Chicago.
New Jersey Blueberry Shipments
New Jersey blueberry shipments got underway about a week ago and are now moving into good volumes. In 2014, the USDA National Agricultural Statistics service showed New Jersey growers produced more than 57.8 million pounds of blueberries on approximately 8,800 acres. New Jersey currently ranks fifth in national production. Early indications show that New Jersey is on track to match, if not exceed, 2014 totals.
Despite a mayoral pledge to revitalize operations, the nearly two-decade battle to modernize the Hunts Point Terminal Market’s distribution facilities appears no closer to completion.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio in early March announced his administration plans to invest $150 million over 12 years to revitalize aging operations. However some Hunts Point wholesalers say the mayor wasn’t specifically talking about the Hunts Point Produce Terminal.
Instead, the mayor’s announcement was neighborhood-specific and was referring to all the food markets on the Hunts Point peninsula, which include the Fulton Fish Market and the Hunts Point Cooperative Market, which is also known as the Hunts Point Meat Market. When one does the math, $150 million over 12 years doesn’t amount to much and isn’t considered remarkable.
The $150 million isn’t anywhere near the $800 million needed to modernize operations, although the city is spending money to improve the market. It is pointed out that a $21 million project constructing railroad sidings alongside the market’s buildings and constructing an open-air rail shed on the market’s east side for freight car unloading is underway.
At the 329-acre facility, 115 wholesalers that employ more than 8,000 workers distribute from the market’s four buildings that were constructed in the late 1960s. Talks to move distributors out of the aging 500,000-square-foot market began in 2000.
Washington produce rates on apples, cherries – grossing about $7400 to New York City.
California’s Westside District, known for its cantaloupe shipments, gets underway this week.
The area gets its name from being located on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Centered around the town of Huron, the melons are starting a week to 10 days earlier than normal.
A number of California produce shipments shipped earlier than ever in 2014 and then broke that record this year. Melons are in a similar situation. The first California melons were shipped out of Brawley in the California desert on April 27. Yuma melons were early as well.
Despite the California drought, melons are still be produced with a key factor being that growers a shifted the location of their acreage to areas that have more water. Some have moved north, while other growers moved west or east or found land with well water when surface water wasn’t going to be available.
Cantaloupes have a short season crop and are considered a low water use crop, plus do well on well water.
The highest volume for Westside District cantaloupes will be from the end of June through the middle of October, if the weather cooperates in September and October.
San Joaquin Valley produce rates for fruits and vegetables – grossing about $4900 to Houston, $6100 to Atlanta.
Here is an overview of citrus imports arriving at US ports in the coming weeks and months. A significant trend is with sweet, easy-peel citrus ranging from clementines to Mandarins and Minneolas and others.
Chilean clementines – available from late May through August.
South African clementines – available from mid-June to July, and from Uruguay in May and June.
Australian late-season Mandarins -in late September through mid-October. From Chile and South Africa, they will be available from September through October.
Mandarins from Uruguay will be available July and August, and from Peru they will be available from mid-August through mid-September.
Australian Minneolas from Australia will be available from late August through September and from Peru from mid-July through August. Daisy Mandarins from Australia will be available in late June and July.
The vast majority of easy peelers and Navels produced in Chile are shipped to the U.S. market. Clementine imports from Chile should amount to 23,638 tons down slightly from last season. However, a large increase in Mandarin exports — from 30,096 tons to 43,338 tons is forecast. In total, the entire easy-peeler category is expected to grow by nearly 19 percent.
Mandarin exports to the US are showing strong growth — 44 percent — with heaviest volume arriving from mid-August through early November.
Chile exports citrus to the US from May through October; Clementines from May through August.
Late Mandarins from Chile are available from August through October.
The first conventional vessel of citrus from South Africa arrived at the port of Philadelphia on June 15 with about 3,800 pallets of easy peelers and Navel oranges Two additional vessels were scheduled to arrive by June 25 and July 6.
The detailed shipping plan from South Africa has conventional vessels arriving through October about every 10-12 days, based on market demand.
Container vessels with smaller volumes will arrive between to assure a steady supply of citrus.
Good volume is shaping for summer produce shipments out of both Michigan and New York state.
Michigan Produce Shipments
Blueberry shipments out of Michigan get underway around the 4th of July, with celery loadings coming the following week. Cucumbers get started around July 10th, with peppers getting underway the third week of July. Look for Michigan sweet corn shipmetns about July 20.
Yellow squash and zucchini have just started.
Michigan’s asparagus movement ended about 10 days ago. The state harvested an average crop of 9,500 acres of asparagus, of which about half this volume went to the fresh market.
As much as two-thirds of Michigan’s carrot shipments goes to the processing market. The fresh market harvest is set to begin in September, with shipments running into January. Michigan carrots are planted by seed and the 2015 crop was in the ground by mid-June.
Michigan onion shipments will start in mid-September.
New York Produce Shipments
Coming soon will be dozens of different vegetables. Summer squash loadings have started and many others such as potatoes get underway with the arrival of July.
Apples are perhaps New York state’s biggest crops. A good shipping season that starts the last half of August is expected.
Light to moderate volume of old crop apples still shipping – Hudson Valley apples grossing about $2000 to Atlanta.
Here’s a look at Northwest fruit shipments, the upcoming pear season, and a glimpse at summertime imports from South American and Mexico.
Northwest cherry shipments are peaking, but loadings will probably be down significantly by mid-July. After a slow start due to late rains, Washington cherry shipments have hit stride the second half of June, with plenty of loadings heading into the Fourth of July. No record cherry shipments are seen this season, with the crop likely topping out at 16 million to 17 million boxes.
Pear Shipments
2015 fresh pear shipments forecast at nearly 20.4 million boxes. which is 2 percent higher than the five-year average, and 2percent lower than the 2014 crop. Loadings should begin about a week earlier than last season, starting in late July.
Apple shipments, pear shipments from the old crop, and new crop cherry shipments – grossing about $4500 to Chicago, $7500 to New York City.
Chilean Orange Imports
The initial arrivals of Chilean imported navel oranges arrived recently in the U.S. with 11,200 boxes on the boat. Future arrivals at US ports on both coast will build in the weeks ahead and continue into early November.
Asparagus Imports
Good supplies of imported asparagus are arriving from Central Mexico by truck a US border crossings and by boat at US ports from Peru. “Grass” is a popular grilling item with many Americans over the Independence holiday.
Carrots and other vegetables are rich in beta carotene and zeaxanthin, which may lower the risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a recent study.
The study drew on data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, an examination of chronic disease in ten European countries, according to a news release from Westlake Village, Calif.-based Dole Food Co.
Study participants who originally had the highest levels of beta-carotene or zeaxanthin in their blood had only about half the risk of developing pancreatic compared with those who had the lowest levels. The study also found that with each doubling of beta-carotene, sum of carotenoids or zeaxanthin in the blood, the risk of pancreatic cancer was reduced by 15%, 22% and 19%, respectively.
Dole recommends consumers eat carrots, sweet potatoes, squash and pumpkin to get their beta carotene. For zeaxanthin, the company recommends spinach, kale, romaine, broccoli, and brussels sprouts. In Dole’s Kale and Carrot Tart recipe, dark green and orange vegetables are combined for an entrée packed with beta-carotene and zeaxanthin.
Kern County, California in the Bakersfield area is shipping carrots and potatoes – grossing about $6700 to Baltimore.
Publix and Trader Joe’s for the third year in a row, have been ranked by shoppers as their favorite grocery stores.
A Market Force study of 7,200 shoppers conducted online in April ranked the Monrovia, Calif.-based Trader Joe’s first, the Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix Super Markets Inc., second and the Batavia, Ill.-based Aldi Inc., third, according to a Trader Joe’s news release.
The survey studied consumers’ grocery shopping habits and preferences, rating Trader Joe’s at 78% in consumer satisfaction and Publix at 74%.
Rounding out the top fiver were Aldi, Hy-Vee Food Stores Inc., West Des Moines, Iowa, and H.E.B., San Antonio. Among the top brands were Boise, Idaho-based Albertson’s and WinCo Foods and Bentonville, Ark.-based Sam’s Club who made this year’s list after failing to garner enough mentions in 2014, according to the release.
Publix and Trader Joe’s led in many areas, including cashier courtesy, fast checkouts and cleanliness, while Aldi, WinCo and Costco Wholesale Corp., Issaquah, Wash., took the top spots in the value category.
Shop-Rite Supermarkets, Edison, N.J., scored highest for sales and promotions while H.E.B, Hy-Vee and Kroger Co., Cincinnati, performed well in most areas.
Other study findings: nearly half prefer to buy organic products, 28% are buying prepared foods at least weekly, up 10% from 2014 and 39% have used a grocery app, primarily for coupons.
Louisville, Colo.-based Market Force is a global customer intelligence company that provides information for retailers, restaurants, financial institutions, entertainment studios and consumer packaged goods companies.
Eastern Shore vegetable shipments are underway for the summer from Virginia, Delaware and Maryland.
Fresh produce shipments typically start in early June, but those crops were a little late because of a cooler spring. Growers produce two fresh-crop seasons, except for potatoes which have just one season.
Virginia potato shipments began around June 20, and will be in full swing with good loadings by early July
Although numerous fresh produce items are grown in the Eastern Shore region, Virginia’s main crop is potatoes, which has between 3,000 and 4,000 acres.
Most of the potatoes produced in Virginia are shipped throughout the eastern U.S., as far west as the Mississippi River and include red, white, yellow and russet potatoes. When northern areas are not producing, much of the crop is distributed in those regions. When the Southern states stop producing, shipments are redirected to the South. Some of potatoes are distributed in Canada.
Dublin Farms in Horntown is one of the state’s biggest potato shippers.
The Eastern Shore also has significant acreage in tomatoes and green beans, with C&E Farms in Cheriton being the largest shipper of green beans. The farming operation produces about 750,000 bushels of beans annually off of its 5,000 acres.
The two major tomato operations on the shore are expected to produce about the same volumes of round, Roma, grape, cherry and heirloom tomatoes during this season, which runs from late June through September.
It should be a good summer for produce truckers who haul fruit out of the Northwest.
Cherry shipments are underway, while most other stone fruit crops will begin in mid-July, picking up speed as the calendar switches to August, and then going strong until the end of the month, with the late fruit still shipping out in early September. Northwest stone fruit shipments to Canada have been showing significant increases in recent years.
A little over one-third of American households purchase peaches, five times more than buy kale. Kale, of course, is the hot, trendy vegetable in America these days.
Apricot production ramped up in early June and was expected to continue through the month. Apricots are expected to be similar in size to last year’s large 7,500 ton crop. Organic apricots are making their mark. It may only be 2 percent of the U.S. category, but it’s growing at three times the rate of conventional.
Pear Shipments
The 2015 fresh pear shipments are forecast at nearly 20.4 million box equivalents, which equates to approximately 451,000 tons of fresh pears. The projection is 2 percent higher than the five-year average, and 2 percent lower than last year’s crop. The estimate was collected from fresh pear growers in Wenatchee and Yakima, WA, and Mid-Columbia and Medford, OR, growing districts.
Northwest pear shipments start in late July with Starkrimson, followed by the Bartlett harvest in early August. Anjou, Red Anjou, Bosc, Comice, Concorde, Forelle and Seckel will be picked from late August through September.
Apples, pears and cherries – grossing about $7300 to Orlando.
Michigan blueberry shipments will be down this season, but it’s a matter of how much. In New Jersey, blueberry shipments should be similar to a year ago.
Two bitterly cold winters back-to-back hit blueberry bushes in Michigan, causing “winter kill” that will reduce shipments for the 2015 season.
The severity of damage varies widely, though, with some growers saying the crop will be “slightly smaller” and others saying some varieties in some areas will be down 50 percent. Still, decent volume is being predicted for Michigan blueberries starting the second week of July with strong shipments through the end of August and possibly into September.
Michigan apples and vegetables – grossing about $900 to Chicago.
New Jersey Blueberry Shipments
New Jersey blueberry shipments got underway about a week ago and are now moving into good volumes. In 2014, the USDA National Agricultural Statistics service showed New Jersey growers produced more than 57.8 million pounds of blueberries on approximately 8,800 acres. New Jersey currently ranks fifth in national production. Early indications show that New Jersey is on track to match, if not exceed, 2014 totals.
Despite a mayoral pledge to revitalize operations, the nearly two-decade battle to modernize the Hunts Point Terminal Market’s distribution facilities appears no closer to completion.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio in early March announced his administration plans to invest $150 million over 12 years to revitalize aging operations. However some Hunts Point wholesalers say the mayor wasn’t specifically talking about the Hunts Point Produce Terminal.
Instead, the mayor’s announcement was neighborhood-specific and was referring to all the food markets on the Hunts Point peninsula, which include the Fulton Fish Market and the Hunts Point Cooperative Market, which is also known as the Hunts Point Meat Market. When one does the math, $150 million over 12 years doesn’t amount to much and isn’t considered remarkable.
The $150 million isn’t anywhere near the $800 million needed to modernize operations, although the city is spending money to improve the market. It is pointed out that a $21 million project constructing railroad sidings alongside the market’s buildings and constructing an open-air rail shed on the market’s east side for freight car unloading is underway.
At the 329-acre facility, 115 wholesalers that employ more than 8,000 workers distribute from the market’s four buildings that were constructed in the late 1960s. Talks to move distributors out of the aging 500,000-square-foot market began in 2000.
Washington produce rates on apples, cherries – grossing about $7400 to New York City.
California’s Westside District, known for its cantaloupe shipments, gets underway this week.
The area gets its name from being located on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Centered around the town of Huron, the melons are starting a week to 10 days earlier than normal.
A number of California produce shipments shipped earlier than ever in 2014 and then broke that record this year. Melons are in a similar situation. The first California melons were shipped out of Brawley in the California desert on April 27. Yuma melons were early as well.
Despite the California drought, melons are still be produced with a key factor being that growers a shifted the location of their acreage to areas that have more water. Some have moved north, while other growers moved west or east or found land with well water when surface water wasn’t going to be available.
Cantaloupes have a short season crop and are considered a low water use crop, plus do well on well water.
The highest volume for Westside District cantaloupes will be from the end of June through the middle of October, if the weather cooperates in September and October.
San Joaquin Valley produce rates for fruits and vegetables – grossing about $4900 to Houston, $6100 to Atlanta.