Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
by Pear Bureau Northwest
PORTLAND, Ore. – The annual meeting of Northwest pear growers was conducted recently in Portland, with anticipated projections on the 2015 fresh pear shipments
set at nearly 20.4 million standard box equivalents which equates to approximately 451,000 tons of fresh pears. The projection is 2% higher than the five-year average, and 2% lower than last year’s crop. The estimate was collected from fresh pear growers in Wenatchee and Yakima, Washington and Mid-Columbia and Medford, Oregon growing districts.
With relatively mild winter and warm spring conditions in the regions, harvest is expected to be five to seven days earlier than last season, beginning in late July with Starkrimson, followed by the Bartlett harvest in early August. Anjou, Red Anjou, Bosc, Comice, Concorde, Forelle, and Seckel will be picked from late August through September. With no major frost issues, crop quality is expected to be excellent with good fruit size for the domestic and export markets.
The top three varieties produced by Northwest growers remain the same as in previous years; Green Anjou pears are anticipated to make up 54% of the total 2015 crop, and Bartlett and Bosc pears are expected to yield 21% and 15%, respectively.
Harvest of certified organic pears in the Northwest is projected to make up about 5% of the total with 974,115 standard boxes (21,430 tons) for the 2015 harvest, a decrease of over 11% when compared with a strong 2014 organic crop, but still a healthy 8% increase over the five-year average. Bartlett and Green Anjou are the two most abundant organic pear varieties, with Bartlett estimated at 301,500 organic standard boxes, and Green Anjou projected yield at 377,000 boxes for 2015.
Washington apples, pears and cherries – grossing about $5900 to Houston.
Here is an overview of citrus imports arriving at US ports in the coming weeks and months. A significant trend is with sweet, easy-peel citrus ranging from clementines to Mandarins and Minneolas and others.
Chilean clementines – available from late May through August.
South African clementines – available from mid-June to July, and from Uruguay in May and June.
Australian late-season Mandarins -in late September through mid-October. From Chile and South Africa, they will be available from September through October.
Mandarins from Uruguay will be available July and August, and from Peru they will be available from mid-August through mid-September.
Australian Minneolas from Australia will be available from late August through September and from Peru from mid-July through August. Daisy Mandarins from Australia will be available in late June and July.
The vast majority of easy peelers and Navels produced in Chile are shipped to the U.S. market. Clementine imports from Chile should amount to 23,638 tons down slightly from last season. However, a large increase in Mandarin exports — from 30,096 tons to 43,338 tons is forecast. In total, the entire easy-peeler category is expected to grow by nearly 19 percent.
Mandarin exports to the US are showing strong growth — 44 percent — with heaviest volume arriving from mid-August through early November.
Chile exports citrus to the US from May through October; Clementines from May through August.
Late Mandarins from Chile are available from August through October.
The first conventional vessel of citrus from South Africa arrived at the port of Philadelphia on June 15 with about 3,800 pallets of easy peelers and Navel oranges Two additional vessels were scheduled to arrive by June 25 and July 6.
The detailed shipping plan from South Africa has conventional vessels arriving through October about every 10-12 days, based on market demand.
Container vessels with smaller volumes will arrive between to assure a steady supply of citrus.
Good volume is shaping for summer produce shipments out of both Michigan and New York state.
Michigan Produce Shipments
Blueberry shipments out of Michigan get underway around the 4th of July, with celery loadings coming the following week. Cucumbers get started around July 10th, with peppers getting underway the third week of July. Look for Michigan sweet corn shipmetns about July 20.
Yellow squash and zucchini have just started.
Michigan’s asparagus movement ended about 10 days ago. The state harvested an average crop of 9,500 acres of asparagus, of which about half this volume went to the fresh market.
As much as two-thirds of Michigan’s carrot shipments goes to the processing market. The fresh market harvest is set to begin in September, with shipments running into January. Michigan carrots are planted by seed and the 2015 crop was in the ground by mid-June.
Michigan onion shipments will start in mid-September.
New York Produce Shipments
Coming soon will be dozens of different vegetables. Summer squash loadings have started and many others such as potatoes get underway with the arrival of July.
Apples are perhaps New York state’s biggest crops. A good shipping season that starts the last half of August is expected.
Light to moderate volume of old crop apples still shipping – Hudson Valley apples grossing about $2000 to Atlanta.
Here’s a look at Northwest fruit shipments, the upcoming pear season, and a glimpse at summertime imports from South American and Mexico.
Northwest cherry shipments are peaking, but loadings will probably be down significantly by mid-July. After a slow start due to late rains, Washington cherry shipments have hit stride the second half of June, with plenty of loadings heading into the Fourth of July. No record cherry shipments are seen this season, with the crop likely topping out at 16 million to 17 million boxes.
Pear Shipments
2015 fresh pear shipments forecast at nearly 20.4 million boxes. which is 2 percent higher than the five-year average, and 2percent lower than the 2014 crop. Loadings should begin about a week earlier than last season, starting in late July.
Apple shipments, pear shipments from the old crop, and new crop cherry shipments – grossing about $4500 to Chicago, $7500 to New York City.
Chilean Orange Imports
The initial arrivals of Chilean imported navel oranges arrived recently in the U.S. with 11,200 boxes on the boat. Future arrivals at US ports on both coast will build in the weeks ahead and continue into early November.
Asparagus Imports
Good supplies of imported asparagus are arriving from Central Mexico by truck a US border crossings and by boat at US ports from Peru. “Grass” is a popular grilling item with many Americans over the Independence holiday.
Eastern Shore vegetable shipments are underway for the summer from Virginia, Delaware and Maryland.
Fresh produce shipments typically start in early June, but those crops were a little late because of a cooler spring. Growers produce two fresh-crop seasons, except for potatoes which have just one season.
Virginia potato shipments began around June 20, and will be in full swing with good loadings by early July
Although numerous fresh produce items are grown in the Eastern Shore region, Virginia’s main crop is potatoes, which has between 3,000 and 4,000 acres.
Most of the potatoes produced in Virginia are shipped throughout the eastern U.S., as far west as the Mississippi River and include red, white, yellow and russet potatoes. When northern areas are not producing, much of the crop is distributed in those regions. When the Southern states stop producing, shipments are redirected to the South. Some of potatoes are distributed in Canada.
Dublin Farms in Horntown is one of the state’s biggest potato shippers.
The Eastern Shore also has significant acreage in tomatoes and green beans, with C&E Farms in Cheriton being the largest shipper of green beans. The farming operation produces about 750,000 bushels of beans annually off of its 5,000 acres.
The two major tomato operations on the shore are expected to produce about the same volumes of round, Roma, grape, cherry and heirloom tomatoes during this season, which runs from late June through September.
It should be a good summer for produce truckers who haul fruit out of the Northwest.
Cherry shipments are underway, while most other stone fruit crops will begin in mid-July, picking up speed as the calendar switches to August, and then going strong until the end of the month, with the late fruit still shipping out in early September. Northwest stone fruit shipments to Canada have been showing significant increases in recent years.
A little over one-third of American households purchase peaches, five times more than buy kale. Kale, of course, is the hot, trendy vegetable in America these days.
Apricot production ramped up in early June and was expected to continue through the month. Apricots are expected to be similar in size to last year’s large 7,500 ton crop. Organic apricots are making their mark. It may only be 2 percent of the U.S. category, but it’s growing at three times the rate of conventional.
Pear Shipments
The 2015 fresh pear shipments are forecast at nearly 20.4 million box equivalents, which equates to approximately 451,000 tons of fresh pears. The projection is 2 percent higher than the five-year average, and 2 percent lower than last year’s crop. The estimate was collected from fresh pear growers in Wenatchee and Yakima, WA, and Mid-Columbia and Medford, OR, growing districts.
Northwest pear shipments start in late July with Starkrimson, followed by the Bartlett harvest in early August. Anjou, Red Anjou, Bosc, Comice, Concorde, Forelle and Seckel will be picked from late August through September.
Apples, pears and cherries – grossing about $7300 to Orlando.
Michigan blueberry shipments will be down this season, but it’s a matter of how much. In New Jersey, blueberry shipments should be similar to a year ago.
Two bitterly cold winters back-to-back hit blueberry bushes in Michigan, causing “winter kill” that will reduce shipments for the 2015 season.
The severity of damage varies widely, though, with some growers saying the crop will be “slightly smaller” and others saying some varieties in some areas will be down 50 percent. Still, decent volume is being predicted for Michigan blueberries starting the second week of July with strong shipments through the end of August and possibly into September.
Michigan apples and vegetables – grossing about $900 to Chicago.
New Jersey Blueberry Shipments
New Jersey blueberry shipments got underway about a week ago and are now moving into good volumes. In 2014, the USDA National Agricultural Statistics service showed New Jersey growers produced more than 57.8 million pounds of blueberries on approximately 8,800 acres. New Jersey currently ranks fifth in national production. Early indications show that New Jersey is on track to match, if not exceed, 2014 totals.
California’s Westside District, known for its cantaloupe shipments, gets underway this week.
The area gets its name from being located on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Centered around the town of Huron, the melons are starting a week to 10 days earlier than normal.
A number of California produce shipments shipped earlier than ever in 2014 and then broke that record this year. Melons are in a similar situation. The first California melons were shipped out of Brawley in the California desert on April 27. Yuma melons were early as well.
Despite the California drought, melons are still be produced with a key factor being that growers a shifted the location of their acreage to areas that have more water. Some have moved north, while other growers moved west or east or found land with well water when surface water wasn’t going to be available.
Cantaloupes have a short season crop and are considered a low water use crop, plus do well on well water.
The highest volume for Westside District cantaloupes will be from the end of June through the middle of October, if the weather cooperates in September and October.
San Joaquin Valley produce rates for fruits and vegetables – grossing about $4900 to Houston, $6100 to Atlanta.
It’s looking like another banner year for California grape shipments as the desert winds down and the San Joaquin Valley cranks up.
With the end of May, Coachella volume appeared down 20% from 2014. Early starts can make for early finishes. Some Coachella shippers are just finishing their desert grape season, about a week early. However, a few shipments will occur in the last week of June….Mexican grape shipments face a similar situation. Some loadings will end the around June 20th, when July 4th is typical.
While Coachella and Mexico are finishing up early, shipping gaps are not seen because the San Joaquin Valley grape shipments are ahead of schedule. Initial light harvests are expected by June 20-22. Shipments should be moving into good volume by the second week of July.
Preliminary estimates for California grape shipments out of the San Joaquin Valley are pegged at 113.3 million 19-pound boxes for 2015. This is up from 110.9 million last year. The state’s record, set in 2013, was 116.3 million. Loadings of California grapes should be available through November.
California Tomato Shipments
California shipped its first load of mature green tomatoes on June 2. Several more loads were shipped during the week of June 8th, putting the crop about a week ahead of schedule. If all goes as expected, California will have mature greens through about mid-November. The mature green tomato is popular with foodservice companies and also is used by repackers across the country. Acreage is down about 10 percent this year due to the California drought.
While the California season gets under way, there are also tomatoes from several other locations including crossings from Mexico into California, Arizona and Texas.
San Joaquin Valley tomatoes, stone fruit and vegetables – grossing about $5000 to Chicago; $7400 to New York City.
New Jersey blueberry shipments are underway, plus the Garden State’s peach season is coming soon. Additionally, in Idaho, fruit shipments take a big hit for this season.
New Jersey weather warmed up in mid May and helped bring on blueberries. New Jersey blueberry shipments get underway any day now with the Duke variety. Blues should be in good volume heading in the Fourth of July holiday. Shipments should continue through late July.
New Jersey Peach Shipments
It will be the middle of July before New Jersey peach shipments hit good volumes. Meanwhile peak loadings will arrive later in July and continue through the end of September.
Idaho Fruit Shipments
An Idaho freeze last November in Treasure Valley with temperatures plunging below zero for four straight days resulted in major damage to some fruit trees that had not had a chance to go into dormancy. Many trees have long cracks that occurred when sap and water had not had a chance to move down to the root system. This caused the wood to split open.
In general, apples appear to have weathered the freeze better than other fruit such as prune trees and peach trees. Some fruit trees probably lost two years of their production capability as a result of the November cold. A record warm February and near-record warm March that caused trees to bloom much earlier than normal was followed by an April 3 freeze that damaged blooms.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $4900 to Philadelphia.