Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
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.
Florida orange shipments should total about 77 million 90-pound box equivalents, most of which will go to processing. Last year’s total was about 45 million boxes.
This is a significant increase in volume as Hurricane Irma had devasting consequences in 2017.
The state’s growers are expected to ship 6.4 million boxes of grapefruit and 1.2 million boxes of tangerines this season.
Duda Farm Fresh of Oviedo, FL is shipping juice oranges, navel oranges, tangerines, plus white and red grapefruit this winter.
Volume for oranges is expected to increase 30 to 40 percent from last year, mostly because of the devastation from Hurricane Irma. Quality this season is reported good in part because Florida has had some cooler weather.
Last year good fruit color was a challenge because of warm fall weather.
Duda Farm Fresh completed its navel season in early January, and will begin picking valencias in February.
Grapefruit volume should be up over 60 percent for the company this season compared to last year, when the firm’s orchards received a direct hit from the hurricane.
Duda Farm Fresh Foods is offering red and white grapefruit, with the season extending through most of February and hopefully into March.
Florida Classic Gowers Inc., Dundee, FL will have an longer season this year for its valencia oranges as a result of an expanded storage program, with shipments running through June.
The company’s valencia program started in late January, with optimism for a good, quality crop. Initial indications are for larger sizing than last season, with more 64- and 80-count fruit.
The company expects to ship more valencias this year than last year.
The Honey tangerine harvest started the week of January 14th and should be available into April.
Increased competition for domestic lemon growers and shippers is coming from other countries who are supplying more product to North America.
Salix Fruits LLC of Canton, GA reports for the first time, Turkey is becoming an important player in the North American lemon market. The fruit importer/exporter specializing in citrus notes the only fruit available in the U.S. during the northern hemisphere season was California. However, imported lemons from Spain got underway about five years ago. Now, Salix Fruits also is importing lemons from Turkey.
U.S. lemon shipments and supplies have been better this season than expected.
Spain also has a good crop as well as Turkey. But Turkey has seen rain recently, slowing imports down a little bit as its season comes to a close in mid February. Spain has a longer season because they have another variety called Verna. But that variety needs cold treatment for entering the U.S.” Depending on the year, the Spanish season can go until April/May.
With this amount of product in the market, prices are competitive and lower than last year. “Prices are about 10-15 percent lower than last year,” says Elortondo. “It’s competitive and demand is stable for lemons. It’s not like Persian limes for example, which have more seasonality because they’re also used for cocktails and during the summertime. Lemons have regular demand throughout the year.”
Availability of imported lemons in the U.S., like with many other commodities, has become very consistent throughout the year. Once the northern hemisphere seasons are over, Chile comes into the picture, and last year, Argentina was allowed to enter the U.S.
The first year many U.S. importers were cautious with Argentina and limited the number of loads they imported. However, good quality was reported with competitive prices, so heavier volumes are anticipated this next season, which will start in April. Turkey is expected to be a key player during the spring and summer months.
DALLAS — Despite reports to the contrary, there will be plenty of guacamole as U.S. imports of Mexican avocados are at record levels and will continue approaching the Big Game, Sunday, February 3 in Atlanta. The United States received a record 71.9 million pounds for the week ending January 13, 2019; January imports of Mexican avocados are projected to reach 217 million pounds, up 16 percent from last year during the same period.
The Los Angeles Rams play the New England Patriots at 6:30 p.m. EST, on CBS.
Big Game Sunday is the biggest day for avocado consumption in America, according to Avocados From Mexico, and guacamole is one of the most popular foods served at game-day parties.
“This season is one of the most active periods for the Mexican avocado industry,” says Alvaro Luque, President of Avocados From Mexico. “It’s a priority for our farmers, packers and distributors to ensure Americans have the avocados they want for the Big Game.”
Additionally, back for a fifth straight year, Avocados From Mexico will have a 30-second commercial during the Big Game, airing Sunday, February 3, 2019 on CBS. This year, AFM returns with its classic light-hearted humor to showcase that Avocados From Mexico are “Always Worth It.” Over the last four years, Avocados From Mexico has told dynamic stories of Avocados From Mexico’s versatility, seasonality, and health benefits (good fats), all leading up to this year’s overarching umbrella message: Simply put, Avocados From Mexico are Always Worth It.
Americans’ demand for avocados isn’t just for game-day parties. Mexican avocado imports are expected to reach a record-breaking 2 billion pounds this fiscal year, an increase of 7 percent from last year.
About Avocados From Mexico
Avocados From Mexico (AFM) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association (MHAIA), formed for the purpose of advertising, promotion, public relations and research for all stakeholders of Avocados From Mexico. Under agreements, MHAIA and the Mexican Avocado Producers & Packers (APEAM A.C.) have combined resources to fund and manage AFM, with the intent to provide a focused, highly effective and efficient marketing program in the United States. AFM is headquartered in Irving, TX.
Some winters Chilean grape imports are flooding U.S. markets the first half of January, but pretty much hit a stone wall this year as we entered 2019. That is now changing as shipments of California grapes are in big volume declines as the season concludes.
There was still a lot of California fruit in U.S. markets during December — a whopping 55 percent more California grapes in cold storage in mid-December 2018 vs. mid-December 2017. As a result, Chile has been shipping less to North America and more to Asia.
Through mid December 10,575 tons of Chilean grapes were shipped to North America, compared to 29,000 at the same time last year. Through the end of December, 71 percent of all Chilean grape exports went to North America.
Chilean grape exports started slowly, but have picked up gradually this year. Overall, Chile reports good volumes of grapes for this season and will be exporting product through the current season.
Total global exports of Chilean grapes through the end of December reached 15,419 tons, which was a “significant decline” from the 31,000 tons of a year earlier, according to the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association.
Chile stepped up shipments to the U.S. by early January, however, with the remaining California inventory having dissipated, Brux said, dropping to 1.5 million cases at the end of the year, according to a recent market report.
“Now that January has arrived and much of the California inventory has cleared, we’ll start to see increased volumes, along with big retail promotions, for Chilean grapes in North America,” she said.
As of the first week in January, harvesting was primarily in the Coquimbo region (IV), with the Valparaiso (V) region starting, Brux said.
The largest shipment of Chilean winter fruit so far this season arrived at the Port of Wilmington Dec. 27. The shipment contained more than 676,000 boxes of fresh table grapes, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and plums, Brux said. The third bulk reefer was scheduled to arrive the second week of January.
Grape volume from the Copiapó region likely will exceed 10 million boxes this season. The largest volumes from that region were to be harvested from December through mid-January, with late varieties finishing by the first week in March.
North America is the largest market for Chilean grapes, taking in 47% of all Chilean grape exports in 2017-18, Brux said.
Bill Poulos, grape category director for the Vancouver, British Columbia-based Oppenheimer Group, said he expects volumes this year to match year-earlier figures.
“We anticipate red and green grape volumes to be fairly similar to last year, as fortunately the (Nov. 12) hailstorm largely spared Chile’s grape-growing regions,” he said. “With new varieties coming into North America, we expect higher overall volumes in April and May than in the past. This steady supply picture is emerging despite the decline in the flame variety in Northern Chile.”
New varieties will have noticeably higher volumes, said Fernando Soberanes, director of operations for South America with Los Angeles-based Giumarra Cos.
“We expect to see increased production of proprietary grape varieties out of Chile as they continue to gain popularity in the market,” he said. “In general, volumes of traditional grape varieties are declining out of Chile in favor of newer varieties. The decline is heavier toward the early-season varieties than the late varieties, so we will see smaller volumes coming in at the onset of the season and heavier volumes toward the end.”
Tel Aviv – The Plant Production and Marketing Board of Israel predicts 2019 will see significant increase in exports of the Orri Jaffa mandarin to the U.S. and Canada. The organization set goals for expanding export of its leading, easy-to-peel mandarin in response to the increased demand for high-quality, easy-peelers.
It carries a particularly long shelf life and appears later in the season compared to other easy peelers – from January into May.
The American citrus market has been growing significantly in recent years and is composed largely of imports. The mandarin sub-category is the largest in the citrus category, accounting for some 40 percent of the citrus market. More than 230,000 tons of easy-to-peel mandarins are shipped into the U.S. annually, at a total value of more than $1 billion. This is in addition the 1 million tons produced domestically.
Over the past 5 seasons, citrus exports from Israel to North America have increased from 3,000 tons to 9,000 tons last season, of which about 5,300 tons are easy-to-peel mandarins. This season, export of Orri Jaffa mandarin alone is expected to reach 9,000 tons, constituting a potential 70 percent growth.
In spite of this significant rise in consumption of the mandarins in the U.S., consumption per capita is among the lowest in the world, about 2.5 kg per year. But based on the rapidly increasing demand, that figure is forecast to double. In Canada that figure has almost doubled exceeding 4.6 Kg per capita.
The Jaffa Orri is a mandarin developed by scientists at the Israeli Volcani Research Center. This easy-to-peel mandarin retains an excellent, fresh, sweet flavor with a fleshy texture, and mouthful juiciness, while bearing virtually no seeds.
Data from studies conducted in recent years confirm a doubling of per-capita consumption of easy-to-peel mandarins in the past two decades. This coincides to a significant increase in the intake of easy-peelers in the American market, mainly in place of traditional oranges. In recent years, this phenomenon has led to a sharp upsurge in the import of easy-peelers to America, leading to the establishment of new groves.
“The US market for easy-to-peel mandarins is substantial and holds promise as a developing target market for Israeli citrus exports,” says Tal Amit, Director of the Citrus Division in the Plant Production and Marketing Board of Israel. “The success of easy-peeler mandarins in particular can be easily credited to the fruit’s great flavor and unbeatable convenience.”
Orri Jaffa mandarin currently is exported to 45 countries worldwide. Most of the yield is exported to Europe (78 percent). The most prominent outlets in Europe of the popular fruit are: France (39 percent), the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Russia (7 percent each). About 18 percent of the fruit is shipped to North America, and 4 percent to Asia Pacific.
The Plant Production and Marketing Board of Israel was established in 2004 to assist farmers in advancing their agricultural missions. The board promotes the Jaffa brand and other registered citrus industry brands. It helps kick-start pioneering R&D projects, executes centralized crop protection initiatives, assists organizations in meeting phytosanitary standards and insures growers against weather-related losses.
It appears lettuce shipments out of the Yuma, AZ area and California’s near by Imperial Valley are getting back on track following a few weeks of inclement weather including snow and cold temperatures, plus a slow down from the holidays.
dCoastline Family Farms Inc. of Salinas, CA, which has an operation in Brawley, CA has noted three separate delays in harvesting, packing and shipper because of icy weather, plus an additional two days harvest was reduced due to light rain. However, business is now returning to normal.
Still, if you are hauling lettuce be aware of some possible quality issues relating to epidermal peeling and discoloration, although the core of the lettuce should be in good condition. The main concern now is possible rain in the forecast.
Suppliers observe the market has regained some momentum after the holidays. Prices are steadying as producers ship more stable volume again. Hope is that the steady market will continue, but growers will be keeping an eye on forecast rain in the growing regions later this week.
While snow in the desert regions of California and Arizona are a bit unusual, it does happen. However, much the leafy green shipments in the United States occurs here during the winter months. Some observers note the desert areas generally have less disruption of shipments than coastal California areas such as Ventura County and Santa Maria.
Desert lettuce and other vegetables – grossing about $5400 to Atlanta.
Hollister, CA – Berry People has announced the start of its organic strawberry season from Baja California in Mexico, having recently completed a successful first year of operations.
These top-quality strawberries, which are now available in both an 8x1lb and 12×8.8oz formats, will ramp up in volume in January, peak from February through April, and taper off in June.
The Baja season comes at a time when U.S. domestic production is limited, providing retailers and their customers an attractive alternative for a reliable supply of organic strawberries. Work is also underway to develop acreage for substantial November and December volumes next season.
The company has grown since it started operating in late 2017 and is now set for further controlled expansion in 2019 by developing important summertime production to finish out its year-round shipments.
Jerald Downs, President of Berry People, noted shareholders recently completed a substantial 2018 equity capital contribution in preparation for 2019’s projected growth.
“A strong balance sheet and sufficient capital resources are important to stay in the vanguard as to the marketplace’s product and service needs, whether that be in the development of new varieties, pack-styles and technologies, investment into new facilities, or in the provision of harvest advances to key outside growers,” said Downs.
About Berry People: Berry People is a year-round, full-line shipper of organic and conventional strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and avocados, and owner of the Berry People® and Avo People brands®. Headquartered in Hollister, California, the company’s ownership and key alliance partners hold important production assets in California, Mexico, Chile and Peru.