Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
As California grape shipments wind down there’s still a lot more fruit to be hauled than at this time a year ago.
California table grape remaining to be shipped is about 79 percent more than at this same period last year, according to the USDA.
There were about 2.43 million packages of the California grapes in cold storage as of December 15th. This compares to 1.36 million on the same date in 2015. The current amount is about 30 percent lower than the 3.44 million total packages in 2014.
The autumn royal variety totaled 255,255 packages in storage in mid-December, compared to 59,867 a year earlier — an increase of about 326 percent — although the current total was down by about 4.7 percent from the 267,867 of two years ago.
Crimson seedless packages in storage totaled 1.02 million packages, an increase of about 95 percent over the 524,336 in 2015, but a 38 percent less from the 1.66 million 2014.
There were 669,470 packages of other red seedless varieties in storage, about a 287 percent increase over the 173,000 in 2015 and a 121 percent increase over the 303,000 packages in 2014.
By contrast, the inventory of autumn king trailed totals from 2015 and 2014 — this year’s 154,341 packages are down 47 percent from a year ago and down 60 percent from 2014.
Flame seedless grapes in storage totaled 1,985 packages this year, compared to 4,505 last year and 18,701 in 2014. That marked a 56 percent decline from 2015 and 89 percent from two years earlier.
While grape supplies are now low, current volume and shipments are similar to where they have been the last couple of years.
There also have been some reports of discoloration, especially with red grapes and storage quality has not been as good. So extra caution is recommended by drivers when loading product.
Imports of grapes from Peru are underway in light, but increasing volume and Chilean grapes will soon be arriving at East Coast ports and soon to be followed by arrivals on the West Coast.
San Joaquin Valley grapes – grossing about $3800 to Dallas.
The outlook for California citrus shipments continues to be good despite recent freezes. Meanwhile, pomegranate shipments have ended with limited exceptions.
California’s Central San Joaquin Valley had temperatures in the high 20s to low 30s a couple of weeks ago, but this is ideal for most citrus varieties for this point in the season. Navel oranges and lemons are generally more cold tolerant than mandarin, or easy-peel, varieties such as Clementines, Murcotts, and Tangos, but with frost protection by wind machines the weekend temperatures proved favorable for all varieties. The cold weather will actually cause the maturation process of the fruit to slow, allowing for the fruit to store longer on the tree and maintain its flavor, external quality and color.
Much of the Central Valley’s mandarin crop is concentrated in Kern County, where temperatures hovered around 31 degrees the night of Dec. 18, which with the aid of wind machines is an ideal temperature point. Similarly, in Tulare and Fresno Counties temperatures were well within preferable ranges.
Navel oranges, by contrast, can withstand cooler temperatures for longer durations. Wind machines were used on roughly one-third of the Central Valley navel crop — covering 44,000 acres — for an average of five hours on Saturday and Sunday nights.
California citrus – grossing about $5800 to New York City.
Pomegranates
California pomegranate shipments this season are nearly over and, sooner than most had initially expected. Simonian Fruit of Fowler, CA had just a few hundred boxes left Dec. 19th and were expected to be finished shipping by Christmas.
Heavy rains in late October took a toll on unharvested pomegranates significantly reducing volume. Pom Wonderful of Los Angeles experienced a decrease in volume of about 40 percent due to the weather. The company, which started shipping in mid-October completed its season earlier in December, with the exception of its arils variety, that will continue through January. Another exception is Trinity of Fresno, CA, which is shipping the arils variety through February. Trinity, as well as King Fresh of Dinuba, CA and are both down about 35 percent.
Two-thirds of the nation’s potatoes have yet to be shipped for the 2016-17 season. Meanwhile, Argentina lemons will be permitted to enter the U.S., with first arrivals next spring.
About 34 percent of the U.S. potato crop has been shipped thus far this season as of December 1st. The 13 major potato shipping states had 269 million cwt. of potatoes in storage at the beginning of the month, up 2 percent from a year ago.
The nation’s largest potato shipper, Idaho, had 72 percent of its fall crop — 100 million cwt. — remaining in storage on December 1st. Washington state, which is a distant second to Idaho in volume, had 57 million cwt. of potatoes in storage December 1st, which was 54 percent of its crop.
Idaho potato shipments – grossing about $5100 to New York City.
San Luis Valley, Colorado potatoes – grossing about $4300 to Chicago.
Argentina Lemon Imports
The USDA has ruled fresh lemons from Argentina will be permitted to be imported into the U.S., which has greatly upset California citrus leaders. The rule is the result of 10 years of study on pest risks. The agriculture department projects Argentina may export between 15,000 and 20,000 metric tons of fresh lemons to the U.S. annually, or about 4 percent of the average total U.S. lemon volume (based on shipments from 2008 to 2014) of 535,244 metric tons.
Most Argentina lemons are expected to be arriving at U.S. ports between April 1st and August 31st. Based on imports of 18,000 metric tons, the USDA estimates that the effect of Argentina lemon exports to the U.S. will be a lemon price reduction of about 4 percent. This is not the first time Argentina has been approved to ship lemons to the U.S. Argentina had shipped close to 1.5 million cartons of lemons to the U.S. in 2000-01 before U.S. grower concerns about pest and disease threats — including canker — were upheld in a California court.
What a difference fall weather can make from one year to the next. That is translating into more hauling opportunities for produce truckers with Florida strawberries and tomatoes.
While very light Florida strawberry shipments began in early November, a slow but steady increase in volume has been occurring. Better growing conditions have the crop well ahead of a year ago. The cold temperatures have been much more frequent this Florida season, than in 2015, which is good for berries.
Florida fresh strawberry hauling will be available into March and April. A good jump in volume is expected in late December, continuing well into January. Then a bit of lull is expected before volume ramps up again in early February and into March. There should be peak shipments in time for Valentine’s Day deliveries.
Currently Florida is averaging about 200 truck loads of strawberry shipments a week, primarily from the Plant City area.
Tomato Shipments
Unlike a year ago Florida tomato hauling should be more normal this year after experiencing a weather-related plunge last year. Last season, Florida shipped about 28 million, 25-pound boxes of round (mature green) tomatoes. This year, volume should be around 35 million range cartons. Florida tomato acreage is similar to last year, about 30,000 acres, making the Sunshine state the largest tomato-producing state in the U.S.
Of significance is some growers also produce grape, cherry and roma varieties, in addition to round tomatoes, but those numbers are not tracked because they’re not regulated by a marketing order. So in essence, actual Florida tomato shipments of non-round varieties increase the volume reported by about 25 percent, assuming this year’s volume remains typical of past years.
Meanwhile, Florida tomato shipments are about the only game in town for the next few weeks, especially since Mexican tomato imports won’t be providing much volume until after the New Year. Then Florida tomato shipments typically take a dip from January to March.
Shipments of tomatoes, vegetables and strawberries from South and Central Florida – grossing about $2100 to New York City.
U.S. fresh apples remaining in storages to be shipped for the 2016-17 season are up by double digits.
Apples remaining to be shipped as of December 1st were 120.3 million (42-pound) boxes, 13 percent above from a year ago and 12 percent higher than the five-year average of 107.5 million boxes. Total fresh crop shipments for Washington state are now expected to hit 137.88 million boxes. That is nearly 500,000 boxes above the November estimate.
The U.S. Apple Association storage report shows total Washington fresh holdings on December 1st at about 104 million boxes, or about 86 percent of total apples remaining to be shipped in the U.S..
U.S. fresh red delicious supplies on hand were 35.4 million boxes, up 26 percent from a year ago. Gala inventories in the U.S. were 22.9 million boxes, up 28 percent from a year ago. Honeycrisp holdings in the U.S. were 5.58 million boxes, up 29 percent from last year.
Among varieties with reduced volume on hand, U.S. granny smiths at 12.1 million boxes, off 15 percent from a year ago. U.S. golden delicious inventories of 7.2 million boxes were down nine percent compared with a year ago.
Washington Apple Shipments
The 2016 Washington crop is well short of the record 140 million-carton crop of 2014. However, Washington fresh apple shipments are likely eclipse the 2014 record crop in the next few years. In fact, 140-million-box crops are expected to become normal, with the big crop years hitting the 150 million to 160 million box range.
Variety Trends
Looking ahead to future shipping season said some observers believe with rising volume of new proprietary or club apple varieties, it may start to put pressure on gala apples, in addition to hurting retail shelf space for jonagold, braeburn and cameo varieties.
There seems to be a growing belief among many observers that as the apple industry moves into these new premium varieties, gala will be the next one to be hit.
Washington apple and pear shipments from the Yakima and Wenatchee valleys – grossing about $4400 to Chicago; $6600 to New York City.
Here are the current top five fresh potato shipping regions when it comes to volume being loaded on a weekly basis: Idaho, Colorado, Columbia Basin in southern Washington and Umatilla Basin in Northern Oregon, Wisconsin and the Red River Valley.
There’s a reason why Northwest potato shipments are huge for the 2016-17 shipping season. Some call it high yields, others call it over production. And all of this centers around Idaho, the biggest potato producer of them all.,
For this season Idaho harvested 323,000 acres , totaling 13 billion pounds of potatoes — enough to fill 500 football stadiums 10 feet high. This accounts for one-third of all U.S. potatoes. Idaho is now shipping over 2000 truck load equivalents of potatoes a week. Idaho potatoes are easily the biggest volume U.S. produce item currently being shipped.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $5400 to Boston.
In Colorado’s San Luis Valley, about 750 truck loads of potatoes are being loaded each week.
Colorado potatoes – grossing about $1600 to Dallas.
In Washington state, fresh potato shipments are coming from the Columbia Basin, Skagit Valley, and Klamath Basin. Washington State potato growers boast of the highest yields in the world, but total shipments each week are well below Idaho and even Colorado. About 13 percent of Washington’s overall crop is shipped for the fresh market. Washington’s Columbia Basin and adjacent Umatilla Basin in Oregon is averaging around 500 truck loads of potato shipments weekly. This volume leans heavily towards specialty potatoes.
Columbian Basin/Umatilla Basin potatoes – grossing about $5400 to Atlanta.
Meanwhile, Central Wisconsin accounts for the bulk of the Badger state’s potato shipments – currently averaging about 375 truck loads per week.
Wisconsin potatoes – grossing abut $2600 to Atlanta.
The Red River Valley of eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota is shipping about 175 truck loads of red potatoes each week.
North Dakota and Minnesota Red River Valley potatoes – grossing about $1750 to Chicago.
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Chilean fruit imports to the U.S. are seasonally light this month, but will show significant increases with the New Year.
The main two fruits imported from Chile in December are blueberries and cherries. The biggest item for Chile, are table grapes, which are available January through April. Chilean stone fruit imports are available from February through April.
Chilean blueberry imports are currently very light with the heaviest volume coming in January and February. Through November 6th, 744 tons of fresh Chilean blueberries had been imported by North America. The crop estimate for Chilean blueberries is about 94,000 tons, with North America expected to import around 70 percent of that total.
Chile exported 32.7 million boxes — about 91,038 tons — of fresh blueberries during the 2015-16 season, with North America continuing to be the principal market. Volume shipped to North American continues to increase each season.
In 2015-16, North America imported 69 percent of all Chilean blueberry exports, an increase of three percent over the previous season.
For the 2016-17 season Chile plans to export about 94,000 tons, with North America to receiving around 70 percent of the total.
There is about a six week window for Chilean cherry imports to North American between mid-December and late January. Cherries are also a popular Chinese New Year item, depending on when Chinese New Year falls; In 2017, it is January 28th.
There are no official projections on cherry volumes destined for North America this season, but if weather conditions in Chile remain favorable the total crop export would be around 20 million boxes.
Chile has an excellent fruit production zone because of the natural isolating effects of the landscape of the country – the Atacama Desert in the north, the Andes Mountains to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the ice-fields to the south.
The unique natural geography of the country consisting of separate independent zones of production have enabled Chile to establish high quality fruit production, without the problems of viruses that have blighted the development of the fruit industries in other countries.
Florida fall vegetable volume for the majority of items is expected to be pretty normal over all, although early season loadings will be lighter than usual.While that is good news, keep in mind that these loadings of items ranging from bell peppers to cucumbers and squash, plus other southern vegetables is relatively light, especially compared to Florida’s primary shipping season for vegetables, which is in the spring. This also results in multiple picks and drops, so keep this in mind when considering produce freight rates.
After heavy September and October rains, pepper harvesting is expected to begin with variable yields and quality, while green bean loadings are expected to start with lower than normal volume. Last season, record winter rainfall harmed quality of many items.
Early indications point to Florida having over all good quality crop, with that quality being much better that last year. This year the weather is much improved, with warmer temperatures and rain, resulting in a very good growing season.
Florida Specialties Inc. of Immokalee is a grower and shipper of green beans, eggplant and peppers. It began harvesting bell peppers in mid-November right on schedule in Southern Florida and also like to looks of its vegetables in central Florida.
Branch: A Family of Farms, is based in South Bay, FL, began harvesting sweet corn in mid November. The company also handles many other vegetables ranging from green beans to cabbage, escarole, endive, cilantro, lettuce, celery, parsely and radicchio, among other items, with operations also in Georgia and Colorado, in season.
Tomatoes
The Florida tomato shipments got underway in late October for mature greens and grape tomatoes in small normal early fall volumes.
DiMare Co., of Homestead, FL is facing reduced tomato yields with early season volumes due to rains.
In central Florida, the cabbage harvest has just started, but decent volume is not expected until early January.
Florida tomatoes and vegetables – grossing about $1800 to Chicago.
There is good news for Florida citrus shipments as adequate volumes on most items are expected this season.
U.S. growers have been harvesting grapefruit and oranges for juices in high volumes while navels and tangerines were hitting the fresh market in limited, but increasing volumes.
The USDA projection for early, midseason and navel varieties in Florida is up 6 percent from October, at 36 million boxes, but down slightly from last season’s final shipments.
Some observers believe Florida citrus volume has finally bottomed out and is getting ready to increase again, although this could take five to 10 years. It was not indicated, but could this bottoming out be an indication the industry is turning the corner in fight citrus greening, which has been devastating Florida citrus groves?
Orange Shipments
The USDA has projected 2016-2017 Florida orange shipments at 72 million boxes, up 3 percent from October.
The USDA forecast of 72 million boxes was down 12 percent from last season’s final shipments.
The forecast of 36 million boxes of Florida valencia oranges for November was the same as the October forecast, down 21 percent from last season’s final volume.
Juice orange volume is expected to be substantially down the latter part of the season. Florida is expecting could Valencia movement as California’s valencia season has ended and the imported navel season has finished.
Grapefruit Shipments
The Indian River and central Florida citrus regions escaped serious damage from Hurricane Matthew, which rolled along the state’s East Coast in early October.
Florida is predicted to ship 9.6 million cartons — 11 percent lower than last season and the lowest level in 50 years.
Tangerines
There has been a shortage of tangerines, although volume has been increasing in recent weeks.
Coming in our December 5th post, a look at Florida fall vegetable shipments.
South and Central Florida citrus and vegetables – grossing about $2100 to New York City.
What a difference a year makes when it comes to onion shipments across the nation.Unlike last fall and winter, the 2016-7 shipping season for onions may not be better for growers and shippers, but it should mean a significant increase in loading opportunities for onion haulers. Okay, so onions not be offer prime freight rates.
Peri & Sons Farms, Yerington, N.Y., is an onion grower and shipper has sees plenty of global onion supplies. The company also has onion operations in the Mason Valley of Nevada and the Imperial and San Joaquin Valleys of California. Yields this past growing season were phenomenal.
While Peruvian onion imports are up slightly year-to-date – about 20 percent, overall import volumes from Peru will be down being slightly down from last season. Peruvian sweet onions are imported from September to February.
It is too early to tell what imported Mexican volume will be.
Generally, Northwest onion shipments this season appears to be similar to last year. The Northwest sweet onions are harvested in August and September and sold in the winter months with best quality product available in September and October. The biggest volume area in the Northwest this time of year is in western Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon. About 1,000 truck loads are being shipped weekly.
Western Idaho/Eastern Oregon storage onions – grossing about $3200 to Chicago; $5100 to New York City.
The Peruvian Mayan sweets are available from September to January, but because they aren’t storage onions, they’re continually harvested to provide fresh product.
Sweet onions from Walla Walla, WA has been declining in recent years and is down from its peak of 1,200 acres. However, some observers believe the decline has reached a low and is now stabilizing.
Vidalia sweet onions are grown in Tattnall and Toombs counties in Georgia and are shipped from late April to August.