Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Predictions for fresh produce imports compared with a November forecast are increased in the latest fiscal 2019 trade estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, it keeps the estimate for fresh produce exports at about the same level.
U.S. imports of fresh fruit in fiscal 2019 (year ending Sept. 30) are projected at $13.7 billion, up $600 million from both the November estimate and fiscal 2018 imports. Trade statistics from the USDA revealed October-November U.S. imports of berries (excluding strawberries) totaled $623 million, up 25 percent from $498 million the same period the previous year.
Imports of fresh vegetables are projected at $8.4 billion for fiscal 2019, up $100 million from the previous estimate and slightly higher than U.S. fresh vegetable imports of $8.36 billion in fiscal 2018. For October and November, the USDA reported U.S. imports of fresh peppers totaled $210 million, up 8 percent from the same period the previous year. Value of fresh tomato imports in October and November totaled $374 million, up 3 percent from year-ago levels.
Meanwhile, fresh fruit and vegetable exports, at $7.4 billion, are forecast unchanged from the November estimate, according to the USDA, and up from $7.29 billion in fiscal 2018.
USDA trade statistics show that U.S. apple exports in October-November 2018 were $151 million, down 26 percent compared with $202 million for the same period the previous year.
Whole and processed tree nut exports are pegged at $9.1 billion, also unchanged from November’s estimate but up from $8.76 billion in fiscal 2018.
Processed fruit and vegetable exports are unchanged from the previous forecast of $7.2 billion and are up from $7.03 billion in fiscal 2018.
Heavy crossings of imported Mexican produce into the leading border areas of Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley and Nogales, AZ are continuing before a seasonal decline in volume begins in March.
Wintertime is peak time for Mexico’s fruit and vegetable shipments into the U.S. and Canada that includes a long list of items.
Imported Mexican produce Starts in late January and pretty much continues through September, with biggest volumes coming from avocados, limes, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, cabbage, watermelons, onions, limes, and mangoes.
For example, mostly Mexican vine ripe tomatoes with much lesser amounts of grape and plum tomatoes are currently averaging about 3,450 truck loads crossing at Pharr, TX.
Divemex is a major Mexican grower which partners with The Oppenheimer Group of Vancouver, BC, which handles good volumes of conventional and organic bell peppers, mini peppers and cucumbers. The operations also move a lot avocados in a year around program as well as seasonal berries.
Fresh Farms of Nogales is shipping good volumes of Mexican zucchini, cucumbers, English cucumbers, sweet corn, green bell peppers, colored bell peppers, eggplant, hard squashes and green beans.
At the Port of Nogales, AZ, tomatoes always provide the top volume crossings during the winter. Currently Mexican tomatoes crossing into Nogales are averaging around 4,500 truck loads weekly. Still, there remains good volume with items such as cucumbers, bell peppers, squash, melons and eggplant..
Edinburg, Texas-based Frontera Produce Ltd. looks to Mexico in the winter for several items, said Trevor Stuart, account manager.
“Over the next three months, our main import commodities out of Mexico for Frontera are your full line of chili peppers, bell peppers and limes, and, later, the kick-off to the start of mango season,” he said.
Frontera Produce Ltd. of Edinburg, TX has its biggest winter volume with Mexican chili peppers, bell peppers and limes, followed in April and May by mangoes.
During the fall season the American produce shippers are loading onions from storages. Kicking off the New Year, Mexico is shipping fresh onions, followed closely by sweet onions from the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
Mexican produce from Nogales, grossing about $3300 to Chicago.
Mexican produce from South Texas, grossing about $4700 to New York City.
Northwest produce shipments this time of the year are pretty much limited to apples, pears, potatoes and onions, with apples easily leading the pack in terms of volume.
Apple shipments, mostly from the Yakima Valley and Wenatchee Valley in Washington are providing most of the Northwest loads, averaging about 2,750 truck load equivalents each week. While the total volume is expected to be down this season, there are still plenty of loading opportunities.
Washington also is shipping pears, although on a much smaller scale. Originating from the same areas apples, about 400 truck loads are being hauled weekly.
Northwest organic pear shipments were about 900,000 boxes last season and is expected to be about 2 million boxes this time around.
Loading of Bartletts are starting to wind down, and shipments are now more focused on green anjou, bosc and red anjou, with plenty of supplies seen on all three types for the rest of the season.
The Northwest pear shipping season runs through June.
The largest volume of onions out of the Northwest are coming out of Washington’s Columbia Basin and the adjacent Umatilla Basin in Oregon. Nearly 350 truck loads are being moved a week from sheds.
As for Northwest potatoes, the biggest volume is originating from Western Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon. Over 8oo truck loads of spuds are being shipped each week.
Washington apple and pears – grossing about $6500 to New York City.
Idaho-Oregon potatoes – grossing about $4700 to Atlanta.
Ontario’s greenhouse vegetable shipments will start building in mid-February and continue to increase through the spring.
DelFrescoPure of Kingsville, Ontario reports the company began picking mini cucumbers and strawberries in late January.
The greenhouse industry has been increasing the amount of high-pressure sodium lights being installed in facilities, which lengthens the harvest season.
If you want to grow tomatoes during the winter, as well as peppers, strawberries, or just about anything else, high-pressure sodium lights are a necessity.
Pure Hothouse Foods of Leamington, Ontario reports Canadian production of seedless cucumbers (both long English and mini cucumbers) get underway in mid-February and continue with increasing volume well into the spring.
Central Mexican greenhouse operations experienced cloudier than usual weather and lighter volume in late November and December compared to last year.
Tomatoes, bell peppers and baby eggplants will start in Canada in mid-March to early April and continue to ramp up volume heading into the spring.
Winter greenhouse production was held down by lengthy cloud cover and persistent low light levels in Mexican growing regions, said Harold Paivarinta, senior director sales and business development for Red Sun Farms, Kingsville, Ontario.
Red Sun Farms of Kingsville, Ontario report following a very challenging winter they were anxiously awaiting the maturing of additional crops in Virginia and Ontario this spring.
NatureFresh Farms of Leamington, Ontario notes since mid-January, production has been ramping up again, especially in peppers and tomatoes and good supplies are seen in the coming months.
In February, the company sees Mexico returning to normal production, and shortly after, Canada will start picking more cucumbers..
Ontario accounts for nearly 80 percent of total Canadian greenhouse production and the region has seen steady growth in greenhouse vegetable acreage, averaging close to 7 percent per year for multiple years. However, little change in acreage is expected from last year.
Ironically, the growth pattern reduction is a result in part due to the diversion of acreage to cannabis. No report is yet available on total amount of acreage devoted to cannabis production in Ontario.
Overall greenhouse vegetable acreage in Ontario is close to 3,100 this year, which is flat or up very slightly from about 3,000 acres a year ago.
While lacking organic statistics, it is estimated organic acreage may represent about 10 to 11 percent or more of greenhouse vegetable acreage.
By SunFed
Beets made the 2019 list for Super Foods and that makes SunFed happy!
“We had beets in the ground before the 2019 Super Foods list came out”, said Gretchen K. Austin, “SunFed is always looking to expand our offerings and beets made perfect sense to us this year in Texas. The fact that beets made Super Food stardom is just kismet!”
SunFed will start with Red and Gold Texas beets in early February. Candy Strip beets will be harvested a few weeks later. Depending on movement, we should have beets into May. Our beets are clipped and topped, packed in a 25# poly bag, 50# bags, tote sacks, or 60” bins, for both retail and processor needs.
SunFed is also kicking off its Mexico onion season, shipping out of south Texas from their Weslaco division. “This is our second year with onions, and it looks to be a good year. Onion consumption is up and demand is strong.” The Mexico crop will start crossing into south Texas in early February.
The crop will start with yellow sweet onions in 50# net sacks followed a few weeks later with 50# white onions. The sizing will be traditional Jumbo, Large/Medium, and medium. With the onion market hot, book your orders early.
SunFed’s Texas onion program will follow on the heels of the Mexico program with a little overlap in April. “This is SunFed’s second year selling Texas onions. We will carry a sweet yellow 1015 onion and a red onion.” Plants are healthy and field yield looks good. More updates to come as the Texas crop matures.
About SunFed
Headquartered in the high desert of southern Arizona near Nogales, we are a fresh produce company with a passion for providing the highest quality fruit and vegetables, produced by the world’s finest growers. This passion and our commitment to developing FRESH INNOVATIONS have earned us a reputation for providing fruit and vegetables with extended freshness and consistent flavors, textures and colors. We are proud to be an industry leader in food safety, which is a culture ingrained throughout our company and backed up by technology, packaging and processes. We employ a team of food safety specialists who have set the highest standards in the fresh produce industry and then administer internal audits to ensure that we’re meeting or exceeding them.
In modern times California has been the top, undisputed volume king when it comes to the nearly 1.2 million truck load equivalents of fresh fruits and vegetables that is shipped primarily by truck every year in the U.S. A review of USDA statistics for 2017 shows this has not changed.
Here are the Top 10 states when it comes to annual fresh produce shipments: California, Washington, Idaho, Florida, Arizona, Wisconsin, Colorado, Texas, North Carolina and New York.
1. California. While the “left” coast continues more towards socialism and sometimes the politicians are doing out right looney stuff, somehow California agriculture continues, although over the past two decades more agriculture production has moved to Mexico because of lower labor and production costs. Still, no state comes close to California in terms of sheer volume.
Here are some stats that prove it.
*395,575 truck load equvialents
*4.1 million acres of fresh produce and tree nuts.
*$24 billion value.
*2600 produce shippers, wholesalers and businesses.
2. Washington. Led by shipments of apples, potatoes and onions, Washington state is a distant second to California, but easily outdistances other states.
*229,565 truck loads.
*315,917 acres.
*$4 billion value.
*308 produce shippers, wholesalers and businesses.
3. Idaho. Famous Idaho potatoes are the undisputed king here.
*121,763 truck loads.
*376,134 acres.
*$967 million.
*117 shippers, wholesalers and businesses.
4. Florida. The Sunshine state is known for it tomatoes, mixed vegetables, citrus and strawberries. Considering it is virtually dead in summertime for produce shipments, its ranking is impressive.
*118,040 truck loads.
*814,117 acres.
*$3 billion.
*900 shippers, wholesalers and businesses.
5. Arizona. Winter shipments provide a big portion of various lettuces, broccoli, cauliflower and other vegetables, including potatoes and lemons.
*75,575 truck loads.
*165,814 acres.
*$764 million.
*352 shippers, wholesalers and businesses.
6. Wisconsin. The Badger State is led by potato shipments primarily from the central part of the state. This area also is the leading shipper of cranberries in the fall. There’s also some cabbage shipments from Southeastern Wisconsin.
*40,720 truck loads.
*315,917 acres.
*$715 million.
*129 shippers, wholesalers and businesses.
7. Colorado. Barely trailing Wisconsin is Colorado, with its San Luis Valley potato loadings, plus mixed vegetables in the Northeastern part of the state.
*40,530 truck loads.
*89,443 acres.
*$305 million.
*122 shippers, wholesalers and businesses.
8. Texas. The Lone Star state has citrus and mixed vegetable shipments from the Lower Rio Grande Valley. West Texas also has a sizeable production of potatoes from the Hereford area.
*37,395 truck loads.
*$727 million.
*330,487 acres.
758 shippers, wholesalers and businesses.
9. North Carolina. The Tar Heel state easily leads the nation in sweet potato shipments. It also has much smaller volume with mixed vegetables and apples, much of it being in the Western part of the state.
*34,305 truck loads.
*144,000 acres.
$520 million.
114 shippers, wholesalers and businesses.
10. New York. The Empire state grows produce in virtually all geographical areas. Apples are biggest in the Hudson Valley, but also are grown in several other areas across the state. There are mixed vegetables, potatoes and onions in various areas.
*24,943 truck loads.
*230,000 acres.
*$672 million.
*797 shippers, wholesalers and businesses.
Russets, which easily lead the spud category in volume, experienced a drop in potato shipments the last six months of 2018.
Although there was small increase in fresh potato sales during this period, the decline in russet volume dragged the overall fresh potato category down in volume.
Potatoes USA of Denver, CO, the nation’s potato marketing and research organization, reports fresh sales were up 1.3 percent, but shipments of russets, which make up two-thirds of the category, dropped 7.3 percent. That resulted to a decline of fresh potato volume of 4.3 percent. Overall fresh sales were $769.3 million, almost $1 million more than sales in the same quarter a year ago.
The average price-per pound of all varieties rose from 64 cents to 68 cents.
Smaller pack sizes saw a small decline in volume (although dollar sales for 1- to 4-pound packs rose 3.8percent), but the industry moved more 8-pound bags and in the bulk category. Eight-pound packs were up 4.6 percent in sales and 0.5 percent in volume. Bulk sales saw a 1.4 perent drop, with a volume increase of 0.8 percent.
According to the report, which uses data from IRI, fresh sales of yellow potatoes, which contribute 11.6 percent of the overall volume of varieties, were up 4.8 percent.
California asparagus shipments are looking favorable for a launch in March with healthy product predicted and growing demand for organic “grass” despite a decline in acreage.
For example, Greg Paul Produce Sales Inc. of Stockton, CA expects to be shipping its Delta Queen brand from the Central San Joaquin Valley from from mid-March to May. Shipments come from 500 to 1,000 acres.
Produce broker Jacobs, Malcolm & Burtt Inc. of San Ramon, CA reports a normal winter has set the stage for the big, healthy plants.
Cold temperatures kill pests and provide good chilling conditions, which allows asparagus ferns to mature. Timely and generous rainfall in the region this season has been very benefical.
The company’s 4 growers include one organic producer and harvest has been underway for a couple of weeks.
There are 820 acres in Fresno in the Central Valley and in San Joaquin County, which will be shipping at the same time as imports from Mexico and Peru.
Melissa’s/World Variety Produce Inc., Los Angeles, distributes conventional asparagus from May to September and the organic crop from May to July.
Devine Organics of Fresno, CA ships asparagus under the Double D Farms Organics brand, and has been shifting its 72 acres in Coalinga to organic due to increasing demand. Harvest will start in April.
The company is also planning to increase acreage, but hasn’t decided whether it will be in California or on its land in Mexico. It will be able to lower costs with a new irrigation system allowing valves to be turned on and off remotely if there is a leak.
Durst Organic Growers Inc. of Esparto, CA expects a small increase in volume this season because of newer plantings, and the company typically sells about 100,000 cartons a year. Last year the operation began harvesting in early February.
California asparagus acreage fell 60 percent from 2007-17 to 8,300 acres, according to California’s Department of Food and Agriculture. Production fell 41 percent from 2016-17.
Greg Paul Produce Sales Inc. report the No. 1 problem is the cost of labor.
Under a 2016 law, larger employers must now pay overtime to hourly workers after 9.5 hours, a threshold which will fall in subsequent years and eventually include smaller companies. Historically, overtime was paid after 10 hours.
Also this year, the hourly minimum wage rose to $12 for larger businesses; $11 for smaller ones.
Finally, Mexican asparagus growers expanded production this year, growers and industry experts say, and are timing their crops to potentially compete with California growers in a price war growers say they can’t hope to win.
Last year, Greg Paul Sales was getting 57 cents to 71 cents per pound of asparagus — reflective of lower and lower prices discouraging California growers from replanting. The company believes the California asparagus industry is on the very of disappearing altogether.
Over production and poor markets has the California strawberry industry in a quandary following the 2018 season when profits took a big hit. That’s not so bad for truckers hauling the fruit simply because more loads are available.
However, the strawberry growers and shippers were expecting a major reduction in acreage this year, but that apparently hasn’t happened.
During late January strawberry shipments from Ventura County were very light with some quality issues. However, volume is building weekly and quality is expected to improve at the same time. Decent volume is occurring just in time for Valentine’s Day (February 14) shipments.
However, the bigger issue remains over production. California’s acreage report estimates 25,704 acres for 2019, but that is only a 1,722-acre drop, which would be about a 6 percent decrease. California’s acreage dropped by almost 8 percent from 2017 to 2018, but as is the case this year, strawberry production is expected to increase because newer varieties are having greater yields. In 2018, California shipped over 222 million trays of fresh strawberries to the market, which was a 10 percent increase over 2017 despite the 8 percent drop in acreage.
California Giant Berry Farms of Watsonville reports acreage has decreased, but the newer varieties have greater yields, so there is not the same drop in volume.
GEM-Pack Berries of Irvine, CA, likewise doesn’t see a drop in acreage during 2019 resulting in fewer berries to ship. The company points out around of 9 million trays were shipped during some weeks in 2018, which is simply too many berries for the market to absorb.
Colleen Strawberries Inc. of Watsonville, CA, also calls for a further reduction in the California acreage for the strawberries to be profitable. While weather problems could reduce shipments this season, the acreage total is not sustainable without some issue reducing overall volume.
On a positive note, huge volume is typical for Easter and this year Easter is late — April 21st. This should give the season extra time to be producing good volume and quality. California strawberry shipments tend to peak during April and May. Easter is followed by Mother’s Day three weeks later (May 12th), when shipments surge for both occasions.
The berry category in general remains strong for blueberries, blackberries and raspberries — as well as strawberries and continues to rise. Strawberries still remain the favorite with more than 50 percent of the total berry volume, but that number is decreasing.
Ventura County strawberries and vegetables – grossing about $7400 to New York City.
U.S. citrus shipments should be up this season in most growing areas compared to last year, and despite challenges in some areas, growers contend they are shipping some good-quality fruit.
During the late fall in California, the navel orange season got off to a rough start.
The San Joaquin Valley was unusally hot last summer, where most of the state’s oranges are grown. At one point, temperatures topped 100 degrees for more than 30 days straight, which shut down the trees.
As a result, sizing on the fruit, especially the early varieties, was unusually small.
Rainfall around Thanksgiving and in December and early January was helping to improve fruit size. Early this season, citrus growers nationwide had to deal with Southern Hemisphere fruit lingering in the domestic market for longer than usual. There was plenty of questionable quality.
This resulted in October, November and December being sluggish.
But as supplies of imported citrus wound down and domestic movement picked up, markets seemed to be improving. Market improvements finally arrived with the New Year.
Florida’s citrus industry still is recovering from the effects of Hurricane Irma, which hit the state in September 2017, wiping out a large part of the orange and grapefruit crops.
During the 2017-18 season, the state shipped only 45 million 90-box equivalents of oranges, 3.9 million boxes of grapefruit and 750,000 boxes of tangerines.
Hurricane season now is over for Florida growers, but they’re keeping their fingers crossed until March or so, when the threat of freezes should be over.
Up to 95 percent of the Florida’s oranges are grown for processing.
Citrus movement in Texas started off a bit slower than usual this season, mostly because of the large amount of imported fruit remaining the in the distribution pipeline, which slowed shipments. While loadings picked up for Christmas, volume still was behind the previous season.
Still, Texas citrus shipments should be greater this season than last.
Lower Rio Grande Valley citrus, plus Mexican produce crossings – grossing about $4800 to New York City.