Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Naturipe Farms is kicking off the blueberry season from its Southeast growing region.
The company began shipping “blues” from Florida in mid-April and is transitioning to Georgia.
Following two years of unfavorable weather events like hurricanes and frost, Naturipe is reporting good volumes of high-quality blueberries for Florida and Georgia of conventional and organic fruit.
Naturipe has a year-round availability of its conventional and organic blueberries through its Globally Local program. The company is among the first to market with Florida blueberries, fulfilling East Coast needs and allowing for a smooth transition from Chile to Florida to Georgia.
Little Bear Produce of Edinburg, TX reports hot south Texas weather – which already had been in the 90s and even reached triple digits – has been good for melon vines. The company is just starting to ship watermelons, honeydew, and specialty melons. The season will last until around mid-June.
Little Bear started shipping sweet Texas 1015 onions in early March as well as Honeysweet onions. The season has been good, with good markets, yields and quality. The firm’s Texas onions loadings are now winding down, with the focus now shifting to Georgia’s Vidalia onions.
While early spring heat has been good for Little Bear’s melon crops, it has taken a toll on the company’s greens and vegetable crops. This harvest started last November and is now coming to an end.
No matter how you look at it, 2022-23 is a down year for the U.S. fresh apple shipments.
The USAppleTracker report, released on April 10 by USApple, indicates the total fresh crop and current product remaining in storage is down from the five-year average and recent years. U.S. fresh apple exports are also substantially off. U.S. fresh apple imports, which are always a relatively small industry factor, are also down.
As of April 2023, U.S. fresh apples in storage stood at 50.2 million 42-pound bushels. This is down from 53.3 million in April 2022, and down from the five-year average, which is 54.4 million bushels for April. The five-year average for total seasonal movement before April is 67.3 million bushels. For the 2022-23 season, 52.3 million bushels have been shipped from holdings.
Processed apple holdings for this season are slightly down. As of April 2023, 21.1 million bushels were in storage. The five-year average as of April 2023 is 22.5 million bushels.
Monthly U.S. fresh apple export volumes have all been well below the five-year average. Except for matching the three million bushels exported in December of 2022 and 2021, export volumes for 2022-23 have slightly trailed the previous year, which was also a down year for volumes.
Since July 2022, U.S. fresh apple exports have ranged between about 1.8 million and the three million bushels exported in December.
In July 2022, the U.S. imported about 1 million bushels of fresh apples. There is a rapid monthly decline in import volumes, with very little apple import volume indicated from November through February.
To date for this season, total fresh apple exports are about 14 million bushels. Total imports are about two million bushels. Both these numbers are the lowest of the last five years.
As of April 2023, controlled atmosphere (CA) storage dominated storage techniques, with national fresh holdings in CA totaling 40.3 million bushels. Washington State apples accounted for 34.2 million CA apples. Refrigerated storage in April only totaled 9.9 million bushels.
Strawberry shipments in time for Easter were largely a wash from California, but shippers are counting on a cold and wet early season weather finally giving away to more normal conditions. If this happens there should be decent volume occurring in time for Mother’s Day, May 14, at least for some shippers.
The Salinas Valley was hit by record rain and snowfall followed by flooding and a levee break along the Pajaro River. While there was significant damage to the affected farmers, the outlook for this year’s California strawberry crop is quite good, reports the California Strawberry Commission in Watsonville.
Only about 5% of the strawberry crop was damaged from the storms. Still, the season got off to a slow start, with February and March production well below last year. The number of trays picked as of March 18 was about 5.6 million trays, down from 14 million at the same time in 2022.
Well-Pict Inc. of Watsonville expects to have good volume through mid May and total shipments this season to be similar to last year.
Seven Seas Inc. of Visalia, CA reports strong plants and expects excellent quality despite running later than last season.
Bobalu Berries of Oxnard grows strawberries in Ventura County and Santa Maria and reports its crop is a month behind schedule.
Success Valley Produce LLC of Oxnard, CA reports it is two months behind schedule and supplies will be tight for Mother’s Day.
A lot of optimism is found with the upcoming California cherry shipping season, although a cold, wet growing season is expected to delay its start by two weeks or more.
Primavera Marketing of Linden, CA will begin its 34th season of selling California cherries. While the company usually starts cherry marketing in late April and continues through mid-June, this year’s timetable is about two to three weeks later than last year, although more like and 10 to 12 days later than what is considered normal.
While a few growers may start harvesting in late April, volume will pick up around May 17 and build momentum through May 25.
Peak volume shipments are expected from about May 26 through June 15, while wrapping up by June 20.
It remains to be seen how much of an overlap there will be from California cherries to the Northwest cherry season.
Oppy of Vancouver, BC expects its California cherry season to get underway around the second week of May, with peak volumes between May 20 to June 10.
Oppy’s California cherry season will end around June 20, just in time to overlap with the start of the Pacific Northwest cherry crop. The company’s 2023 California cherry crop should see a big increase over the short 2022 crop, which was hurt by frost damage and poor pollination.
Once Oppy completes its California season, it will move up through Oregon and ending in British Columbia. In Oregon, Oppy is celebrating its 100th anniversary with Orchard View cherries in The Dalles, Ore.
The USDA reported total cherry shipments from California’s San Joaquin Valley in 2022 totaled 2,256 truckloads, down 59% from 4,442 truckloads in 2021.
Although there are some counter-seasonal imports, nearly 90% of fresh cherries in the U.S. are shipped in May, June and July.
A 14 percent increase over last season is forecast by The Peruvian avocado industry. If it holds this will mean a total of 630,000 tons in production for this season.
The Peruvian Association of Hass Avocado Producers (Prohass), projects a record season.
The Peruvian season occurs between March and August with about 500 to 600 containers a week.
A main cause for the production increase is the addition of 24,000 new producers, covering approximately 49,420 hectares. These growers have a maximum of four productiveacres, with a yield between 2 to 8 tons, which did not exist before.
This is in addition to the production of medium and large companies, ranging from 24 acres to more than 98,840 acres.
According to official data from Prohass, for the current season, they plan to export approximately 630,000 tons. The primary destination is Europe, followed by the United States, Asia in third place and South America, mainly Chile and Argentina, in fourth place.
Melon shipments in the U.S., as well as from Mexico and Central America got off to a slightly later start than usual this spring in many, but growers are reporting good quality.
Sol Group Marketing Co. of Pompano Beach, FL has peak loadings from November through mid-May. The company sources cantaloupes, honeydews, personal-size watermelons and seedless watermelons from Central America.
Stella Farms LLC of Scottsdale, AZ wrapped up its southern Mexico watermelon season in early April and now is launching it season from Guaymas, Mexico. Hermosillo, Mexico starts in late April, about 10 days later than usual, due to cool, wet weather.
Melons from Sonora, Mexico will cross through Nogales, AZ., and be distributed throughout the western U.S. Acreage in Sonora will be down from last year, so there will be less production in April and May.
Stella Farms will ship out of Florida until mid-June. About 90% of the company’s watermelons are seedless.
Weather in Florida has been warmer than normal, so the harvest started earlier than usual.
Stella Farm expect good watermelon shipments from Florida throughout.
Green Life Farms LLC of Indio CA will have good volume of Mexican seeded and seedless watermelons, which will be similar to last year.
The company, which typically starts its spring season the first or second week of May, won’t get started until about May 20 this year, because of unfavorable conditions in Mexico.
Grower/shipper Dixondale Farms of Carrizo Springs, TX got off to a poor start this season when it lost its first 100 acres to a hailstorm in mid March.
That will delay the start until June 10. Harvest usually begins right before Memorial Day.
CAC forecasts the avocado crop for fiscal year 2022-23 at 257 million pounds, which is a slight decline from the 2021-22 yield of 276 million pounds. The agency predicts that the hass variety will account for 243 million pounds of this year’s crop, with lamb hass weighing in at 7 million pounds and Gem at 6 million pounds.
While harvest timing will depend on weather and market conditions, CAC saw volume ramping up in March and reach peak availability from April through July. The season typically winds down around Labor Day.
Eco Farms of Temecula, CA who has a partnership with The Oppenheimer Group of Vancouver, BC expects a good crop this season. Calavo Growers in Santa Paula, CA; and Index Fresh in Corona, CA also express optimism over a slightly smaller overall crop, but with better sizing than a year ago.
California avocado shipments typically receive a boost from Cinco de Mayo and American summer holidays such as Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day.
Long time major grower-shipper of Mexican tomatoes and vegetables, Delta Fresh, is adding table grape shipments to its wide ranging list of vegetables.
Delta Fresh, based in Nogales, AZ for the first time this spring will be shipping grapes from the Sonoran production areas of Guaymas, Hermosillo and Caborca. Delta Fresh is working with an existing grower.
Delta Fresh reports in the past it didn’t have the right infrastructure and team to be in the grape business. However, with the firm’s modern, already huge Nogales warehouse facilities, have expanded and the sales and food safety staffing has grown to accommodate the new business.
This spring Delta Fresh is also expanding its line with watermelons, cantaloupes and asparagus. Asparagus shipping was underway in March. The melon season began in late April.
Mexican table grape growers expect 2023 grape shipments to be slightly more than last season.
Most Mexican grape shipments normally occur from mid-May through mid-July. Loadings last year were particularly strong results due to lower volumes of early season cherriesin the U.S.
At a recent meeting, Mexico’s Sonora table grape growers association (AALPUM) estimated 21.7 million boxes for the 2023 season, with just over half in green grapes. That would be up 1.3 percent over last year’s 21.4 million boxes.
Producers report a sharp drop in red globe varieties, a variety that has been falling out of favor for some time.
Decreased volumes of summer fruit in the U.S. — due to prolonged bad weather in California — also could help create demand this season for Mexican grapes.