A 14 percent increase over last season is forecast by The Peruvian avocado industry. If it holds this will mean a total of 630,000 tons in production for this season.
The Peruvian Association of Hass Avocado Producers (Prohass), projects a record season.
The Peruvian season occurs between March and August with about 500 to 600 containers a week.
A main cause for the production increase is the addition of 24,000 new producers, covering approximately 49,420 hectares. These growers have a maximum of four productiveacres, with a yield between 2 to 8 tons, which did not exist before.
This is in addition to the production of medium and large companies, ranging from 24 acres to more than 98,840 acres.
According to official data from Prohass, for the current season, they plan to export approximately 630,000 tons. The primary destination is Europe, followed by the United States, Asia in third place and South America, mainly Chile and Argentina, in fourth place.
RaboBank has released its North American Agribusiness Review for February 2023, provided a market outlook on several products for this year, including fruits and vegetables, considering a disinflationary process that has started in the U.S.
The report indicates that: “The disinflationary process is going to take a significant amount of time. Therefore, we do not expect the Fed to cut rates in 2023, despite our forecast of a recession in the second half of the year. The Fed will have to keep rates high to squeeze inflation out of the economy.”
However, at least for products like fresh vegetables, seafood, and milk, prices have already started to drop from the beginning of the year.
After a year where food inflation reached double digits, consumers will be happy to see some decrease in grocery prices in general by mid-year.
Fruits
The report analyzes a couple of fruits in the market individually. Avocados have seen a consistent decrease in price since Sept. 2022 by almost 50% year-on-year. With record-setting crops and high volumes from Mexico, prices have dropped considerably.
On the other hand, apple prices have increased caused of shorter crops in WA, causing low availability of some varieties. By mid-February, some non-organic varieties reported up to 53% price increases year-on-year.
Strawberry prices also increased 11% year on year with increased demand, the report shows, however, that a record high acreage planted in California gives hope that availability will improve during 2023 and prices may normalize.
Orange and lemons, showed a 5% and 7% decrease in shipping point prices, a consequence of California’s increased citrus production.
Vegetables
Vegetable prices are expected to decrease, slowly but surely, as supply pressures ease.
“In January, the fresh vegetables CPI was the fastest dropping index at 2.3% month-on-month, showing retail prices reacting to upstream’s price ease,” said the report.
Potatoes seem to be the most complicated product, with the lowest production since 2010 with just 397m cwt. As a consequence, prices have reached a historic high, with a 75% increase year-on-year.
In general, prices for carrots, celery, cucumbers, sweet corn, and bell peppers, are all up year-on-year caused by a combination of short supplies and strong demand.
Consumers should expect lower prices, but it won’t be a quick process, so experts ask for patience when it comes to buying fresh produce at your local grocery store.
Melon shipments in the U.S., as well as from Mexico and Central America got off to a slightly later start than usual this spring in many, but growers are reporting good quality.
Sol Group Marketing Co. of Pompano Beach, FL has peak loadings from November through mid-May. The company sources cantaloupes, honeydews, personal-size watermelons and seedless watermelons from Central America.
Stella Farms LLC of Scottsdale, AZ wrapped up its southern Mexico watermelon season in early April and now is launching it season from Guaymas, Mexico. Hermosillo, Mexico starts in late April, about 10 days later than usual, due to cool, wet weather.
Melons from Sonora, Mexico will cross through Nogales, AZ., and be distributed throughout the western U.S. Acreage in Sonora will be down from last year, so there will be less production in April and May.
Stella Farms will ship out of Florida until mid-June. About 90% of the company’s watermelons are seedless.
Weather in Florida has been warmer than normal, so the harvest started earlier than usual.
Stella Farm expect good watermelon shipments from Florida throughout.
Green Life Farms LLC of Indio CA will have good volume of Mexican seeded and seedless watermelons, which will be similar to last year.
The company, which typically starts its spring season the first or second week of May, won’t get started until about May 20 this year, because of unfavorable conditions in Mexico.
Grower/shipper Dixondale Farms of Carrizo Springs, TX got off to a poor start this season when it lost its first 100 acres to a hailstorm in mid March.
That will delay the start until June 10. Harvest usually begins right before Memorial Day.
CAC forecasts the avocado crop for fiscal year 2022-23 at 257 million pounds, which is a slight decline from the 2021-22 yield of 276 million pounds. The agency predicts that the hass variety will account for 243 million pounds of this year’s crop, with lamb hass weighing in at 7 million pounds and Gem at 6 million pounds.
While harvest timing will depend on weather and market conditions, CAC saw volume ramping up in March and reach peak availability from April through July. The season typically winds down around Labor Day.
Eco Farms of Temecula, CA who has a partnership with The Oppenheimer Group of Vancouver, BC expects a good crop this season. Calavo Growers in Santa Paula, CA; and Index Fresh in Corona, CA also express optimism over a slightly smaller overall crop, but with better sizing than a year ago.
California avocado shipments typically receive a boost from Cinco de Mayo and American summer holidays such as Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day.
By Kenny Lund, Executive Vice President, ALC Logistics
Back in 1976, when Allen Lund went out on his own and established the Allen Lund Company, there was tight control on “regulated freight,” and brokers like him could only manage loads of vegetables and fruit, along with raw goods like bailed cotton. His very first load was a load of cotton.
Most other goods were tightly regulated. Regulations on carriers, rates, and government-approved truck brokers were numerous. Every non-exempt load had to have an approved filed tariff. Transportation was expensive and inefficient.
It all changed when deregulation was brought in under the Carter Administration and continued under the Reagan Administration. Within a few years, thousands of carriers, brokers, shippers, and receivers started operating in a new, freer transportation system. The government got out of the daily pricing of loads and let freedom through capitalism determine the rates. If this injection of freedom had not happened, we would still be hindered by over-regulation and government red tape. Fewer products would be available and they would be more expensive.
Capitalism is not perfect, but there has never been a better system to bring people out of poverty, create more businesses, and supply more products at lower prices throughout the country. Currently, there are more than 400,000 trucking companies, 10,000 transportation brokers, and our stores are chock-full of products from across the country and around the world.
It is easy to compare to the supply chains of communist and socialist countries. Every economic measure bears this out. Democracy and capitalism win every time.
In the early 90s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of the U.S.S.R., Allen Lund was asked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to go with a team to Moscow to help improve the produce supply chain that helped feed 11 million Russians in and around that city. For three months, he observed and tried to improve a system that allowed more than 50% of the fruit and vegetables coming into the area to disappear or be destroyed in transit. Drivers who did not care sold their refrigeration fuel on the black market and delivered rotten vegetables. The government paid them anyway. Allen Lund saw how badly a fully controlled economy operated with incredible lack of efficiency. He saw hope in the younger generation as they worked to build up the black market that began to operate with some capitalist principles.
Fast forward to today, it is painful to observe that socialism and even communism are on the rise with those under 30 in the USA. It is inexplicable…and yet there it is. Too many of our universities teach that businesses are all corrupt and that the government and centralized control are the answer. As a business involved in the great American supply chain, the Allen Lund Company has a front-row seat to see how well our nation’s distribution systems work. We must then take it upon ourselves to educate and, in many cases, re-educate the population. We must pass down to the next generations the information about how good we have it with a system based on freedom. We also MUST run our business with professionalism and integrity. Scams, collusion, and cronyism are a stain on the freedoms we enjoy and only paint targets on our free society. Capitalism is the system that allows all participants to achieve the high standard of living available to those who work hard. Freedom is the answer – not government over-regulation.
I’m ready to have a fresh conversation with you!
*****
Kenny Lund graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in Business Administration. He managed the Los Angeles, refrigerated transportation division of the Allen Lund Company for eight years, before shifting full-time into managing the Information and Technology Department in 1997; becoming the Vice President of the department in 2002. Lund was promoted to Vice President – Support Operations in 2005. In 2014, Kenny, in the position of VP of ALC Logistics, began working with that division of ALC to sell their AlchemyTMS software solutions. In 2019, Lund was promoted to Executive Vice President of ALC and ALC Logistics.
National Watermelon Promotion Board recently partnered with Nutrition Impact LLC on a research project to “determine intake of watermelon and assess association with diet quality, energy and nutrient intake, and physiological parameters in children and adults,” according to a news release.
A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Analysis, the study was recently published in Nutrients and found that total diet quality was higher in watermelon consumers as compared to nonconsumers.
The study suggests watermelon can increase nutrient intake as well as diet quality in both children and adults, which says the National Watermelon Promotion Board to plans to present additional details later this year at a nutrition research-focused conference, the release said.
The study further found that children and adult watermelon consumers had greater than 5% higher intake of dietary fiber, magnesium, potassium and vitamin A, as well as more than 5% lower intake of added sugars and total saturated fatty acids. The study also showed that watermelon consumers had higher intake of lycopene and other carotenoids.
“Researching the nutritional benefits of watermelon is essential for the watermelon industry and consumers alike,” said Megan McKenna, NWPB senior director of marketing and foodservice. “By understanding the nutritional value of watermelon, we can ensure we are supporting the industry by effectively communicating those benefits while also helping consumers make informed decisions about their health and nutrition.”
The new study is one of several that has launched in recent years refining the NWPB Nutrition Research Program. Last year’s project concluded that “Scientific Literature Confirms Watermelon’s Health Potential.”
The NWPB says more research specific to watermelon’s health benefits is needed to support watermelon consumption and help to educate consumers. With that in mind, part of the board’s strategic plan is continued focus on watermelon’s nutrient research and health trends.
NWPB said it is looking to fund watermelon rind nutrient profiling in order to be included in the USDA FoodData Central database.
The NWPB was established in 1989 as an agricultural promotion group to promote watermelon in the U.S. and in various markets abroad. Funded through a self-mandated industry assessment paid by more than 800 watermelon producers, handlers and importers, NWPB’s mission is to increase consumer demand for watermelon through promotion, research and education programs.
Long time major grower-shipper of Mexican tomatoes and vegetables, Delta Fresh, is adding table grape shipments to its wide ranging list of vegetables.
Delta Fresh, based in Nogales, AZ for the first time this spring will be shipping grapes from the Sonoran production areas of Guaymas, Hermosillo and Caborca. Delta Fresh is working with an existing grower.
Delta Fresh reports in the past it didn’t have the right infrastructure and team to be in the grape business. However, with the firm’s modern, already huge Nogales warehouse facilities, have expanded and the sales and food safety staffing has grown to accommodate the new business.
This spring Delta Fresh is also expanding its line with watermelons, cantaloupes and asparagus. Asparagus shipping was underway in March. The melon season began in late April.
Yakima, WA: Superfresh Growers® will expand its sweet cherry production by 30% this summer, thanks to the addition of a state-of-the-art packing line.
Domex Superfresh Growers plans to have the facility integrated and running well ahead of the arrival of the 2023 Pacific Northwest cherry crop, which is typically late May. The state-of-the-art optical sorter line will handle dark sweet and Rainier cherries.
“Freshness and speed to consumers is the key to success in the cherry category,” said Robert Kershaw, CEO of Superfresh Growers. He continued, “It is magical when an investment improves the experience of all stakeholders in the supply chain. Freshness is the intersection that growers, retailers, and consumers all want. Everyone wants cherries fresh off the tree.”
Superfresh Growers was the largest and latest US cherry grower and packer during the 2022 season. Their last shipments, from high-altitude orchards, extended beyond the Labor Day holiday into September.
“We expect a big year on cherries in 2023. Our bounce-back volume from 2022 should be fantastic. Our season will be longer than ever, again extending through August. We are excited for the quality this new line will provide, and for the additional capacity we will deliver to the market,” states Conner O’Malley, President of Sales.
About Superfresh Growers
Superfresh Growers is a sixth-generation family-owned grower and shipper of apples, pears, cherries, blueberries, and kiwi berries from the Pacific Northwest, including organics in all varieties. Superfresh Growers is the largest packer of fresh cherries in the United States. Learn more at www.superfreshgrowers.com.
Mexican table grape growers expect 2023 grape shipments to be slightly more than last season.
Most Mexican grape shipments normally occur from mid-May through mid-July. Loadings last year were particularly strong results due to lower volumes of early season cherriesin the U.S.
At a recent meeting, Mexico’s Sonora table grape growers association (AALPUM) estimated 21.7 million boxes for the 2023 season, with just over half in green grapes. That would be up 1.3 percent over last year’s 21.4 million boxes.
Producers report a sharp drop in red globe varieties, a variety that has been falling out of favor for some time.
Decreased volumes of summer fruit in the U.S. — due to prolonged bad weather in California — also could help create demand this season for Mexican grapes.
The first shipment of the 2023 New Zealand kiwifruit season recently departed the Port of Tauranga carrying around 2,500 tons (more than 600,000 trays) of Zespri SunGold kiwifruit to customers in Japan. It should arrive there any day now.
The Southampton Star is the first of 53 charter vessels Zespri will use this season to deliver around 145 million trays of green, SunGold and RubyRed kiwifruit to more than 50 countries this year, according to a news release.
Charter vessels will be responsible for delivering around 72 million trays of this season’s New Zealand-grown fruit to Zespri’s global consumers. This season’s charter program includes two vessel services to the West Coast in the U.S., three services to northern Europe, seven to the Mediterranean and 41 to Asia. An additional 73 million trays of kiwifruit will be shipped using container services, according to the release.
