Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
South Texas vegetables are improving, plus an update on how Argentina lemon imports are shaping up.
Texas vegetable shipments have gotten off to a rocky start due to weather factors, but shippers see volume improving, although it may December before that happens.
Most of the Lower Grande Valley and the Winter Garden/Uvalde growing regions in Central Texas received a lot of rain the past two months, and delayed plantings. Wet field also have hindered harvests. It has resulted in a number of vegetables getting off to a slow start.
Texas cabbage shipments are expected to be good, in part because of reduced volume in Florida and Georgia resulting from hurricane damage.
Frontera Produce Ltd. in Edinburg, TX ships cilantro, chili peppers, calabaza and cabbage and has noted its challenges with the weather, but says crops and loadings have rebounded. Quality is reported good.
Frontera started shipping jalapeño, anaheim and serrano peppers, as well as calabaza squash in mid October. During the past four years the company has gradually increased its chili pepper production, and this year that trend continues. Frontera is now starting its Texas cabbage season.
Grow Farms Texas LLC of Donna reports Mexico’s prime vegetable growing region in Culiacan has been spared damage from a series of storms, but hot pepper production just to the south were not as lucky.
Argentina Lemon Imports
Argentina produce company Latin Lemon has pointed out the country’s return to the U.S., which last year reopened for the South American country after a 17-year hiatus. Latin Lemon reports the first season had gone very well, despite the strict export protocol, while nearly 10,000 metric tons (MT) of lemons were exported to the U.S.
Argentina took advantage of an eight-week window after California’s season, but before the heavy Mexican volumes. The plan was and is to slowly and cautiously build up volumes. Argentina currently exports nearly 20 percent of its lemon production.
North Dakota’s 2018 potato shipping forecast is set at 23.7 million cwt, and Minnesota’s at 18.1 million; down 3 percent and 2 percent respectively from last year, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Harvested acres are estimated at 73,000 in North Dakota; down 1,000 acres from 2017, while Minnesota acres dropped to 43,000; down 2,500 from last year. Average yield in North Dakota is 325, down 5 cwt. from 2017, while Minnesota’s average yield is forecast at 420, up 15 cwt. per acre from last year.
The Red River Valley of Eastern North Dakota and Western Minnesota is the nation’s largest red potato growing and shipping region.
The Red River Valley is unlike anywhere else. A beautiful stretch of land between the rolling plains of North Dakota and the lakes and forests of Minnesota. It isn’t your traditional valley, it’s nestled on flat, fertile ground that follows the coils of the mighty Red River as it flows north from South Dakota to Canada.
The Red River Valley is the bottom of what was once Lake Agassiz, a massive glacial lake larger than even the mighty Great Lakes. As the huge glacier plowed over the land, it deposited a layer of silt, clay, sand and rock that slowly transformed into the valley’s rich soil, setting the area up to become one of the world’s most successful farming regions.
The soil is what sets the Red River Valley apart. The rich, dark soil is perfect for growing potatoes. While its black color is distinct, one truly gains an appreciation for the valley’s loam soil when they see it up close and handle it for themselves. This nutrient-rich dirt is the reason why Red River Valley potatoes taste so good.
The continental climate of this area is also a large part of why the Red River Valley produces the world’s best potatoes. Its growing season is short, lasting for only five months, but the growing days are long with as many as 16 hours of sunlight per day. The Red River Valley boasts a consistent dose of precipitation. With most crops watered by prairie rain instead of irrigation, potatoes from the Red River Valley are rich in flavor that only Mother Nature can provide.
With the Red River Valley’s uniquely ideal growing conditions, it’s easy to see why the potato was one of the first crops to be grown here. The first potatoes were planted near Pembina, North Dakota, during the 19th century and served as a valuable food source for fur traders. As settlements were established in the valley throughout the 1800s, the potato remained a mainstay vegetable. At the beginning of the 20th century, potatoes began to be produced commercially, with the first commercial planting done near Hoople, North Dakota. During WWII, the potato industry quickly expanded in the Red River Valley, as it built a reputation for its high-quality seed production and its red-skinned potatoes known as “Red River Valley Reds.”
Red River Valley potatoes – grossing about $2125 to Chicago.
A Mexican labor dispute that broke out in late October has had U.S. avocado importers anxious, but the issue was resolved November 14th.
What Mexican growers consider low prices for their avocados was at the core of the dispute. As a result growers had installed checkpoints on all major roads in the Michoacan growing region, preventing picking crews and field trucks from entering the groves, according to the Avocado Producers and Exporting Packers Association of Michoacán (APEAM).
In the U.S., importers were becoming concerned as inventories were quickly declining. Calavo Growers Inc. of Santa Paula, CA was airing concerns of running of avocado supplies soon.
APEAM said its executives were working to resolve the issue through meetings and conversations with police agencies, the federal government and growers. The association expressed confidence these actions would soon lead to avocado shipments returning to normal.
Avocado prices began falling last August in anticipation of a bigger crop. In fact, by mid-October f.o.b. prices of a box of avocados were $12 lower than a year earlier.
Calavo estimated that the U.S. imported 1.9 million pounds of Mexican avocados from July 2017 through June 2018, and he that number was expected to be up to 2.1 million pounds for the current crop year.
McDaniel Fruit Co. of Fallbrook, CA was ware of Mexican grower disappointment in prices, but felt the lower prices were only temporary and the avocado market would rebound. Meanwhile, the quality of the Mexican avocado crop was looking very good.
Index Fresh Inc. of Riverside, CA was pointing out Mexico is expecting a slightly larger crop for the first time in five years.
Avocado supplies in the U.S. have been low due to the labor strife, although the average consumer probably didn’t notice it. Importers report it will be weeks before supplies return to normal, plus a lot of avocado supplies will not be ripe in time for Thanksgiving.
Eighty percent of the nation’s domestic citrus shipments originate from California and loadings this season look favorable despite more than a month of triple digit heat. Meanwhile, a look at apple shipments in the United States reveal a double digit drop in remaining volume compared to last season.
The state has a $3.3 billion industry with over 3,000 growers farming about 320,000 acres of citrus.
Technically, the California citrus season starts each year at the beginning of October with production and lemon shipments coming out of the Imperial County. The harvest then gradually moves north to the San Joaquin Valley for mandarins and navels. This year’s crop faced 34 consecutive of temperatures well above 100 degrees. This caused citrus trees to kind of shut down, which is expected to result in fruit with a lot more smaller sizes that a year ago. Still, the industry generally believes overall quality will be good. An upside of the hot weather should be better flavor.
California citrus – grossing about $7100 to New York City.
Apple Shipments
U.S. fresh apples remaining for the 2018-19 shipping season are down 14 percent compared to a year ago. The U.S. Apple Association reports as of November 1st there were 155.5 million cartons remaining in storages. The amount of apple shipments remaining are 11 percent less compared to the five-year average of 130.3 million cartons.
Total Honeycrisp fresh apples still in storage as of November 1st were 11.15 million cartons, up 6 percent from 10.56 million cartons last year and 58 percent higher than two years ago, when 7.06 million cartons of Honeycrisp were in storage.
At the same time, fresh market gala apples remaining in storage totaled 24.4 million cartons, down from 15 pecent at 28.6 million cartons last year and off 6 pecent from two years ago. Fresh market red delicious holdings were 27.6 million cartons on November 1, down 19 percent from 34.1 million cartons a year ago and 29 percent less than holdings of 39 million cartons two years ago.
Peruvian grape imports by the U.S. are expected to increase this season, according to a new report from the USDA.
The new forecast has grape exports from Peru for the 2018-19 shipping season show an increase of 7 percent.
From October 2018 to September 2019 Peruvian grape production is predicted to rise 7 percent, totaling 540,000 metric tons, according to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
“Grape production is recovering after heavy El Niño rains and unstable temperatures in early 2017 delayed harvest, reduced yields, and reduced quality,” the USDA said in the report.
With domestic consumption estimated at 271,000 metric tons, the USDA projects grape exports at 385,000 metric tons in 2018-19, up 7 percent from the previous year.
For the calendar year 2017, the USDA reported the U.S. was the top export market for Peru grape exports, taking 33 percent of the total volume.
Peru’s dry coast and 12 hours of sunlight daily, combined with irrigation, allows Peru to mature its grape crop 55 percent faster than neighboring countries, according to the report.
Grapes are grown primarily in Ica with 41 percent of the production and Piura with 22 percent of the production. The total area under cultivation, is estimated at more than 74,000 acres.
The harvest season starts in late October and continues into in April.
While the red globe variety dominates production — it remains popular in the growing Chinese market. The report notes growers are moving to higher-value varieties to supply other markets such as Crimson seedless, flame seedless, thompson seedless and sugraon.
One acre of grapes in Peru requires an initial investment of approximately $16,000, not counting the cost of land.
The report said about 30 percent of the cost of production is soil preparation and the irrigation system, 25 percent is establishing the trellis, and 14 percent goes toward the plant itself.
At $3,070 per metric ton, prices in the U.S. market were 27 percent higher than the average export price of $2,419 per metric ton in 2017. In the same period, the U.S. market represented 42 percent by value and 33 percent by volume of total Peruvian grape exports.
Here is a trifecta of produce loading opportunities. Granted two of the three will be limited volume (mandarins and broccoli), but Idaho potatoes always have big time shipments.
In another week or so Kishu mandarin loadings will get underway from California’s Orange Cove growing region.
The delicate, hand-picked item has relatively overall light volume and provides partial loads at best.
Kishu mandarins are a golf ball-sized mandarin that are sweet and easy to peel and sold for Ripe to You under the Lil’ Ninja Mandarins label. Harvest begins in mid-November.
“We’re still competing with our retail partner’s inventory of citrus from the Southern Hemisphere,” says Madalyn McCracken of Ripe to You, based in Reedley, CAs.
That said, she adds that the Kishus are a variety sought after by higher-end grocery stores. “We’ve had great feedback on our 1 lb. bag with a new Giro design and we look forward to the consumer’s reaction to it,” she says.
Idaho Potato Shipments
Shipments of Idaho potatoes through early October have been running ahead of a year ago, according to USDA statistics. As of October 6th, truck shipments of Idaho potatoes were 61.9 million pounds, up 9 percent from the same week a year ago.
Season-to-date truck shipments of Idaho potatoes through October 6th totaled 458.7 million pounds, up 14 percent compared with the season.
Rail shipments were also up, with season-to-date movement of 28.5 million pounds, up 6 percent compared with year-ago levels.
Fresh potato loadings are expected to ramp up as the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays approach.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $4700 to Atlanta.
Georgia Broccoli Shipments
While Maine broccoli shipments are finishing, shipper Fresh from the Start is launching its second season in Georgia with broccoli shipments starting in mid-November.
The company dodged the bullet with Hurricane Michael and is expecting good volume this season. Once its Georgia season is finished it will begin shipping out of Florida in January.
North American blueberry imports for the 2018-19 season will be good despite volume declining slightly from the record levels of a year ago.
With only a 5 percent decline in volume this season, it will hardly be noticed.
Chile has about 1,300 blueberry growers, primarily found in central and southern Chile. The country has about 100 exporters shipping 100 metric tons or more.
With nearly perfect growing conditions last season, Chilean exporters shipped about 110,351 metric tons of fresh blueberries to all export markets with 64 percent destined for North America, 24 percent to Europe and 12 percent to Asia.
This season,Chilean fresh blueberry exports are forecast near 105,000 metric tons with distribution of the crop to be similar to a year ago.
Chilean blueberry exports started in mid-October. Peak shipments will get underway the last week of November, and continuing through February. The season continues through March.
Organic blueberry exports continue and upward trend. Last season, organic blueberry shipments accounted for 9.5 percent of total fresh exports, or about 10,000 metric tons. About 85 percent of the organic “blues” were exported to the U.S.
Total Chilean blueberry acreage was 38,550 acres in July 2017, of which 17 percent was organic production.
Boat vs. Air Shipments
About 90 percent of Chilean blueberry volume to North America is shipped by sea container, and 10 percent by air. Few airplanes for shipping Chilean blueberries in the future is predicted since there is increasing competition from other exporting countries.
Last season, Chile exported about 40,000 metric tons of frozen blueberries — equal to about 40 percent of fresh volume.
Imports of Chilean fruit are seen as looking good in the new season. Meanwhile, a California shipper plans a big increase in it Sumo citrus loadings.
Among Chilean fruit imports expected to have strong volume destined for the U.S. are blueberries, lemons and citrus.
The Chilean fruit 2017-18 shipping season hit record levels for exports because of near perfect growing conditions. While the 2018-19 shipping season is also expected to be strong, volume is predicted to be down about 5 percent from 2017-18’s 110,000 metric tons. Organic exports are forecast to make up about 10 percent of the total volume.
Chilean blueberries are seen as having strong imports by the U.S. Increases in U.S. imports are being forecast for citrus and lemons. The Chilean navel crop had a small increase, with volume up to 99,000 metric tons over last season’s 84,000 metric tons. Of note is the U.S. imports about 90 percent of that volume.
The easy-peeler category was launched by clementines last May and W. Murcotts in July. Clementine volume was up about 40 percent, to 61,000 metric tons, and the W. Murcott crop saw an increase of around 30 percent to 110,000 metric tons.
Since the U.S. and Chile have opposite seasons, the later has the ability of exporting produce items when the U.S. is either out of season, or at low production.
We’ll soon be having an update on Chile’s biggest volume produce export item, table grapes.
Sumo Citrus Shipments
Suntreat of Lindsay, CA will have larger volume from the west coast this season with its Sumo citrus. Suntreat, which is a division of AC Foods, handles Sumo from Australia between mid-September and mid-October. This is followed by California’s Sumo season which ships product from January into April.
The Sumo, is a large mandarin developed in Japan, and is related to the orange family. The Sumo is an exclusive citrus varietal for the company. AC Foods expects to experience significant growth this year, shipping about 5 million, 5-pound cases.
Florida citrus shipments for the 2018-19 season is forecast at 86.9 million boxes, a 75 percent increase from last year’s Hurricane Irma damaged crop, according to the USDA.
Citrus shipments are still far below Florida’s peak volume of 244 million boxes during the 1997-98 season.
“This citrus production forecast offers a glimmer of hope to Florida’s iconic citrus industry,” said Adam Putnam, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, in a statement. “For more than a decade, we’ve battled citrus greening and the industry most recently was dealt a devastating blow last year from Hurricane Irma. This estimated increase in production is the much-anticipated good news that Florida’s growers have hoped for. Much work remains, but the citrus industry is strong and here to stay.”
Florida’s forecast for all oranges is set at 79 million boxes for 2018-19, up an impressive 76 percent from 44.95 million boxes in 2017-18, notes the USDA.
For grapefruit, the USDA forecast Florida shipments at 6.7 million boxes in 2018-19, up 72 percent from 3.88 million boxes from 2017-18. Florida red grapefruit shipments was 5.5 million boxes, up from 3.18 million boxes last season.
Florida tangerine/mandarin shipments for the 2018-19 season is 1.2 million boxes, up from 60 percent from last season.
California and Texas
California growers and shippers also are expecting to ship more volume.
The California navel orange shipments for 2018-19 is 49 million boxes is up 8 percent from last season’s final shipments. The California valencia orange forecast is 9 million boxes, down 5 percent from last season’s final utilization. The Texas all-orange shipping forecast is at 2.4 million boxes, is up 28 percent from last season’s final utilization, the USDA said.
The U.S. 2018-2019 grapefruit shipments are is forecast 33 percent higher than last season’s final utilization. In Texas, expected production of 6.2 million boxes is up 29 percent from a year ago.
The forecast for the 2018-2019 U.S. lemon crop is down 4 percent from last season’s final shipments. California volume forecast is at 20 million boxes is off 6 percent from the 2017-2018 season.
The USDA said the U.S. tangerine and mandarin crop is forecast up 22 percent from last season’s final loadings. California tangerine and mandarin forecast, at 23 million boxes, is up 20 percent from the previous year.
Timely arrivals for banana imports from Central and South America has been an ongoing issue this year due to factors ranging from disruptions by labor to weather factors.
Particularly over the last several weeks there have been late arrivals as a result of steamship line delays and issues. Major delays by shipping companies continue along the most commonly used routes from South America to the U.S. This has resulted in inconsistencies with steamship line arrival times to the U.S. and disruptions in banana supply across the board.
Labor strikes in Costa Rica have furthered the inconsistencies on steamship arrivals as any routes that include Costa Rica have experienced major slowdowns at Cost Rica ports. Contributing to the problems was a hurricane that hit the southeastern coast of Costa Rica in September.
Organics Unlimited of San Diego, CA has reported price pressure on organic bananas. The company contends there is a lack of understanding on what is figured into the higher prices needed for organic product versus conventional.
Chiquita Brands has referenced the rising costs of items ranging from paper, bunker fuel and inland transportation. There also are stricter regulations, fuel prices going up and lack of adequate labor, all which are having a negative impact on costs.
Bananas imported by North American companies are sourced mainly from Central America, where challenges the industry faced this year were mostly weather related.
The year started with colder weather than usual, and in Costa Rica and Panama above average rainfall, creating port service problems. The unstable political situation in the region continues to pose a challenge for a consistent and problem-free supply.
Del Monte Fresh Produce of Coral Gables, FL reports in recent months growing conditions have been good and banana availability should remain steady through the rest of the year, despite some transportation issues last September.
Oke USA of West Bridgewater, MA is the importing arm of Equal Exchange. The company reports weather has been ideal in Peru and Ecuador this year. However, 2017 was a difficult year for quality due to El Niño and excessive rains that led to wide-scale flooding, especially in Peru. In 2018, there has been less rain in general, rains coming at the right time and more optimal growing conditions in general. This has resulted Equal Exchange experiencing a decrease of over 50 percent in quality issues.