Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
A full lineup of citrus shipments in good volume is seen this season by Fruit World Co. of Reedley, CA.
The conventional and organic fruit grower and shipper has an uninterrupted supply of organic mandarins through the California season, as well as supplies of conventional stem and leaf mandarins, according to a news release.
“We’re excited to be entering citrus season with a robust organic and conventional mandarin program, which this year includes five varieties of organic mandarins and the earliest availability of conventional California mandarins,” CJ Buxman, co-founder of Fruit World and an organic mandarin grower in the San Joaquin Valley, said in the release.
Buxman grows organic satsumas, clementines, Page, Tango and Gold Nugget mandarins, with supplies shipping from November to June. Fruit World expects to increase organic mandarin volumes 20 percent this season.
The company has a year-round California organic lemon program, with peak shipping from November to March. Organic grapefruit ships in early October, followed by navels in late October. Navels peak December through February.
Other varieties, including car acaras, blood oranges, meyer lemons and Minneola tangelos, start shipping in late December, according to the company.
California lemon shipments look good this season as consumption increases and consumers discover the health benefits and versatility of the fruit.
Limonaira Co. of Santa Paula, CA began shipping lemons last August from the desert region and moved into full volume in late October. San Joaquin Valley shipments started in early October, and full weekly volumes began in early November . California’s coastal area should start shipping lemons in February.
Growing conditions were excellent this year with good rain, mild temperatures and minimal wind.
Limoneira’s volume is expected to up 5 to 9 percent.
The Wonderful Co. LLC of Los Angeles is optimistic about the launch of Wonderful seedless lemons, which began shipping in the last couple of weeks.
A first this season will be Kern Ridge Growers LLC of Arvin, CA. The operation will have a small lemon crop in December in addition to its navel orange program.
Suntreat Packing & Shipping Co. of Dinuba, CA., grows lemons that now are packed and marketed by the Limoneira Co. The company grows lemons in Central California from November. 1 to March 1.
Imported Peruvian grapes arriving at the Port of Philadelphia has skyrocketed since 2012, when 1,000 tons of the fruit entered Philly port facilities.
The season for Peruvian grape exports is October through March.
By 2016, that number totalled 30,000 tons compared to 52,000 in 2017 and has been 60,000 tons, and more, in 2018 and 2019.
Port figures reveal fresh and dried grapes account for around 28 percent of the Peruvian freight tonnage shipped to Philadelphia. The fruit is second only to Peruvian oil from petrol and bitum mineral.
Peru’s third-largest product into Philadelphia is fresh or dried dates, figs, pineapples and avocados. This accounts for about 15 percent of the volume. That volume has ranged between 8,000 and 12,000 tons per year since 2013.
Coming in third are onions, shallots garlic and leaks with volume ranging between 4,000 and 7,000 tons per year since 2015.
There was no volume coming into Philadelphia in 2012.
Citrus accounts for roughly 10 percent of Peru’s ocean freight volume into Philadelphia. Bananas and plantains are a much smaller percentage.
Other fresh produce received in Philadelphia from Peru includes blueberries, tangerines, pomegranates, lemons, artichokes, asparagus and peppers.
Although North Carolina sweet potato shipments made up a smaller percent of national loadings this past season, it still accounted for 70 percent of the total volume of U.S. sweet potato shipments, which was down slightly from 73 percent in 2017 and the same in 2016.
USDA shipment statistics show that fresh shipments of sweet potatoes from North Carolina totaled 662.5 million pounds in 2018, down 10 percent from 736.8 million pounds in 2017 and down 4.4 percent compared with 692.4 million pounds in 2016.
As a percent of annual shipments, the USDA said top shipment months of North Carolina sweet potatoes in 2018 were:
- March: 12.6 percent;
- November: 9.6 percent:
- April: 9.6 percent; and
- January: 9.4 percent.
Some of the leading North Carolina sweet potato shippers are: Ham Produce, Snow Hill; Nash Produce, Nashville; Jackson Farming, Autryville; and Vick Family Farms Partnership, Wilson.
Florida tropical fruit shipments are expected to remain good this fall, despite extreme weather of combined heat, humidity and storms earlier in the year.
Brooks Tropicals Inc. of Homestead FL reports its passion fruit and other items are looking great. The company will be have peak loadings of avocados during the fall and early winter.
J& C Tropicals of Miami notes between January and May both Florida and Central America experienced a major drought, and the summer brought heavy rains and high temperatures. This adversely affected dragon fruit and yucca. The company also ships malanga blanca, star fruit and calabaza.
Heavy rains followed by freezing cold weather created the perfect storm during the growing and harvest season in the Red River Valley. As a result, fresh potato shipments from North Dakota and Minnesota could be slashed by more than 50 percent.
With the close of October , the Red River Valley potato harvest was basically shot down.
The Northern Plain Potato Growers Association in East Grand Forks, MN reports there were several days of freezing temperatures, probably ruining in potatoes left in the fields.. Industry observers are estimating shipments may down down by 45 to 55 percent. Additionally shipments could be over sometime in February, weeks ahead of a more normal season.
Shippers are expected to take care of their long-standing customers first, Some packing sheds are operating at partial capacity and running only a few days a week.
The Red River Valley accounted for about 25 percent of the U.S. red potato shipments last season.
By T&G Global
The Envy™ apple is poised to ship sweetness, orchard fresh crispness and delightful satisfying crunch, 365 days a year.
Envy™, the New Zealand-born varietal with year-round production in Washington, Chile, Europe and New Zealand, is set to increase its 2019/2020 domestic conventional volume by nearly 40 percent versus last year, with organics growing by more than 50 percent.
With considerable year-on-year production spikes forecast through 2025, ultimately harvesting 150 percent more fruit than this coming season, Envy™ is elevating to a mainstream premium status.
About T&G Global: New Zealand-based T&G Global works with growers around the world to produce, sell and deliver the highest-quality fruit. T&G is a leader in the premium apple segment with its Envy™ and Jazz™ branded varieties.
About Envy™: Envy™ is a trademarked brand that refers to the Scilate apple variety. It was developed in New Zealand by Plant and Food Research and was patented in 2009 – the same year T&G, which owns the Envy™ trademark, began distributing in the U.S. via its marketing partner Oppy.
Good volume citrus shipments are expected this season from California and Texas, but the big news could be this may be the year of a turn around for Florida, which has been clobbered in recent years by citrus greening and hurricanes.
Florida citrus shipments may be up a little this year, and that may be a big deal.
The first recently released forecast by the USDA shows a moderate increase in Florida citrus shipments during the 2019-20 season.
The USDA’s first estimate for 2019-20 Florida orange loadings is 74 million boxes, up 3.4 percent from last season. The agency projected Florida grapefruit volume at 4.6 million boxes for the 2019-20 season, up 2 percent from the previous crop. Florida’s combined tangerine and mandarin crop is forecast at 1.05 million boxes, 6 percent higher than a year ago.
“This incremental increase is good news for the industry as we continue to recover from Hurricane Irma and the devastating effects of citrus greening,” Michael Sparks, executive vice president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, said in a news release. “We believe that this number — if it holds throughout the year — will strike a nice balance of getting the processors the oranges they need while firming up prices to the Florida citrus grower.”
Sparks said growers are slowing building output after declines caused by citrus greening disease pressures.
“We are not out of the woods but we are making gains,” Sparks said in the release.
The USDA issues its first estimate in October of each year and revises it monthly during the harvest until the end of the season in July.
“This reflects what we’ve been hearing from growers,” Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus, said in a release. “Florida Citrus is here to stay.”
That sentiment was echoed by Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried.
“Today’s forecast reflects the resilience of Florida’s citrus growers, dedication to the citrus industry, and commitment to innovation in the face of challenges,” Fried said in the release. “Citrus is Florida’s signature crop, and we’re committed to supporting our citrus producers with new research, technology, and techniques to fight the spread of citrus greening.”
California, Texas Shipments
In California, navel orange shipments are predicted to be at 47 million boxes, down 6 percent from last season’s final estimate.
The California valencia orange forecast is 9 million boxes, unchanged from last season. Texas orange Volume is forecast at 2.70 million boxes, up 8 percent from a year ago.
Meanwhile, the combined tangerine and mandarin forecast for California is 23 million boxes, down 12 percent from last season.
Grapefruit loadings in California is forecast at 4.2 million boxes, up a whopping 32 percent compared to last season.
Texas grapefruit shipments are projected at 5.7 million boxes, down 7 percent from last year.
Lemon volume in 2019-20 is forecast at 20 million boxes in California, 12 percent less than last season. Arizona lemon output is pegged at 1.4 million boxes, 4 percent higher than last season.
Wisconsin cranberry shipments are the largest in the world, and peak loadings are now occurring as Thanksgiving (November 28th) will be here soon.
DuBay Cranberry Company of Junction City, WI points out the Badger State has been the nation’s leading cranberry producer for the past 26 years. The company works with about 250 farmers throughout 20 counties in the state.
Last season the Wisconsin cranberry production totaled over 5.5 million barrels, equaling about 20,600 acres. Farmers believe this year will be about the same.
Other states producing cranberries are Massachusetts, Washington and New Jersey.
California pomegranate shipments are expected to be off some from a year ago, but volume from Trinity Fruit Sales Co. of Fresno, CA is forecast to be up about 5 percent due to new plantings.
Harvest started in early September with the company’s proprietary Aco variety, which originated in Israel. The company cites this variety as better than other early varieties such as foothill.
The company also has expanded its production lines this season. In addition to fresh pomegranates, Trinity Fruit has year around shipments of fresh, dried and frozen arils.
“It’s been very successful for us,” he said.
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