Archive For The “Trucking Reports” Category
Lettuce shipments to retailers have been relatively strong since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, while foodservice business has been down, but generally seems to be improving.
Over 1,800 truck loads of Iceberg and Romaine lettuce are being shipped weekly from the Salinas Vally.
Coastline Family Farms of Salinas, CA reports loadings destined to retailers has been booming, while restaurants and other foodservice has been hit hard. The company’s primary items are Iceberg lettuce, romaine, romaine hearts, green leaf and red leaf lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and green onions.
Misionero Vegetables of Gonzalez, CA ships Earth Greens Organics and Garden Life lines, which include leafy greens and lettuce items.
The Nunes Co. Inc. of Salinas reports good crops with
iceberg lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, romaine, romaine hearts and celery.
Church Brothers of Salinas says INSV continues to be a problem in the Salinas Valley. INSV is Impatiens Necrotic Spot. The virus causes a wide variety of symptoms including wilting, stem death, stunting, yellowing, poor flowering, ‘chicken pox-like’ sunken spots on leaves, etches or ring spots on leaves, and many others. When loading, you should look for such symptoms.
The grower shipper has its Tender Leaf program which includes specialty items such as the new Tuscan Tender Leaves mix, Ready Leaf, Tuscan Baby Romaine — a hybrid leaf that makes for a creative, healthy serving vehicle — and romaine wraps.
Church Brothers’ major leafy green/lettuce items are iceberg, romaine, green leaf, and butter lettuce.
Dole Food Co. of Charlotte, N.C. markets 11 Dole-branded leafy green/lettuce products, including arugula, butter lettuce, chard, endive, green leaf lettuce, iceberg lettuce, kale, radicchio, romaine and spinach.
The company also offers 66 packaged salad varieties including its popular Chopped!, Slawesome! and Premium salad kit lines, salad mixes and slaws.
The company’s growers experienced hardly any pest or disease problems this season.
Salinas lettuce is grossing – about $6500 to Atlanta.
California almond shipments for the 2020 crop are predicted to increase 18 percent this year, totalling 3 billion pounds.
The USDA reports last year’s shipments was 2.55 billion pounds.
The Almond Board of California notes Domestic and export shipments are up so far this year and global demand stronger than ever. The average nut set per tree is 5,645, up 21 percent from the 2019 almond crop.
The Nonpareil average nut set is 5,621, up 27 percent from last year’s set. The average kernel weight for all varieties sampled was 1.51 grams, down 2 percent from the 2019 average weight.
Almond production and shipments original throughout California’s Central San Joaquin Valley.
The nation’s leading apple shipper, Washington state, is experiencing lower than normal exports of apples, which is resulting in more product being shipped to domestic markets.
Strong Washington State summer apple shipments indicate potentially record demand for apples that will be harvested in the coming weeks. Since June 1, Washington State apple shipments have eclipsed 2018 by a whopping 29 percent, and 2017 by 30 percent. There have been more than 10 straight weeks of +2 million-box shipments
In a typical year, roughly a third of the state’s apple crop is exported. At the end of the current shipping season, which concludes in early September, that share could be as low as 26 percent. The primary reason is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made it difficult to predict domestic volume and exports.
Mexico and India currently are the top importers of Washington apples. But stay-at-home orders, particularly in India, where the virus has seen a surge, has kept consumers out of markets and stores and has contributed to a reduction in demand.
Based on average annual per captia consumption, raspberries and blackberries were the fastest-growing fruit categories in the produce department during the period from 2006-08 to 2016-18.
This is according to Roland Fumasi, vice president and senior analyst for RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness, Fresno, CA. This was part of a presentation he gave to the North American Raspberry and Blackberry Association of Pittsboro, NC recently.
Conventional raspberry shipments rose from 216.5 million pounds in 2018 to 236.4 million pounds in 2019, according to the USDA.
Blackberry volume was down slightly year over year from 174.4 million pounds in 2018 to 168.3 million pounds in 2019.
Most fresh-market raspberries come out of California. Fresh-market blackberries are grown primarily in California and from such states as
Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and Ohio.
Volume of berries for Naturipe Farms LLC of Estero, FL is about the same as last year and currently has good volumes of blackberries and raspberries along with blueberries and strawberries.
Well-Pict Inc. of Watsonville, CA now is shipping raspberries from the Salinas/Watsonville area. Heaviest volume is expected to continue through October and possibly November.
For Main Street Produce Inc of Santa Maria, CA, this is the third year to be shipping raspberries. Volume is increasing 30 percent a year and will continue until November.
HBF International LLC of McMinnville, OR started shipping blackberries in mid-June and will continue into September.
Ample volume for the summer berries is seen by growers and shippers, despite some weather issues, for a few growing areas, but on the whole, shipments of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries look promising for the next few months.
Strawberries
California’s fall-planted strawberry acreage for winter, spring and summer production was 26,982 acres, up 4.3 percent from 2019’s 25,868 acres
As of May 30, the state’s growers had shipped about 81.3 million trays. A year ago, the figure was about 73.5 million trays.
Fresh-market volume for the season is expected to reach about 218.5 million trays compared to about 202 million trays in 2019.
Well-Pict Inc. of Watsonville finished up its Santa Maria season in mid-June and is now shipping primarily out of the Watsonville-Salinas area.
Blueberries
Last year, U.S. blueberry growers shipped 1.2 billion pounds of wild and highbush blueberries.
Gourmet Trading Co. of Los Angeles report blueberries will be shipping out of several areas, including Georgia, North Carolina, California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Michigan and New Jersey, between now and fall.
Peruvian blueberry exports have started earlier than in other years, as the harvest got undereway in June with volume slowly increasing.
Larger volumes of blueberries from Peru should be available in the U.S. starting in late July and going into August and September.
Raspberries & Blackberries
The North American Raspberry and Blackberry Association of Pittsboro, N.C. reports most fresh-market summer raspberries are shipped from California.
Fresh-market blackberries are grown primarily in California and a few other states, including Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and Ohio.
Raspberries had a 15.4 percent compounded annual growth rate in U.S. per capita consumption from 2006-08 to 2016-18. Blackberries had a growth rate of 11.6 percent.
Demand for conventional raspberries rose from 216.5 million pounds in 2018 to about 236.4 million pounds in 2019.
Blackberry movement was down slightly, from 174.4 million pounds in 2018 to 168.3 million pounds in 2019.
Exports of citrus from Chile should have a 4 percent increase over last year totalling 347,000 metric tons (MT).
The boost is coming primarily from higher easy peeler volumes, with navel volume slightly lower than last year and lemon volume about the same.
North America continues to lead as Chile’s primary export market for citrus. Chile has been meeting strong market demand for clementines, with exports through June, an impressive 38 percent ahead of the same time last season.
Good volumes of easy peelers will be available through October. Clementine shipments have recently wrapped up, and mandarin shipments started in mid June.
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Nearly 4,000 tons of South African fresh fruit recently arrived at the Port of Philadelphia, which officially kicked of exports to the U.S.
The June 19 arrival included 3,800 pallets of clementines and navel oranges, according to a news release.
The ship, Everest Bay, arrived at the port’s Gloucester Marine Terminal in Gloucester City, N.J.
“We are proud to continue this fruitful partnership with summer citrus providers in South Africa,” Leo Holt, president and CEO of Holt Logistics, which operates Gloucester Terminals, LLC, said. “Keeping our food supply chain robust and intact is of the highest concern for our staff and many partners.”
The ship left the port of Cape Town on May 31. Ships containing citrus from South Africa will arrive weekly until October, the end of the summer citrus growing season.
Observers of Michigan apples report the crop is looking good for 2020, but we haven’t heard any specifics as to how it compares to an average of 25 million bushels shipped in a normal season. That old crop will wrap up in July before the new season kicks off with early varieties in late August.
We should have a better idea when an official crop size estimate is released at USApple’s Outlook conference, Aug. 20-21, which will be online this year.
Many growers have signed on with managed varieties in Michigan, such as Smitten, Sweet Tango, Kiku, and more. In addition, EverCrisp has become exceedingly popular in the winter months, as it stores well.
There also are more traditional varieties such as Honeycrisp, Gala and Fuji . There is less volume due to lower demand for such varieties as
Jonathan and Romes, among others.
The Michigan Apple Commitee reports it is aiming toward expansion beyond the Great Lakes region. Michigan Apples are shipped to 32 states and exported to 18 countries.
NEW ROCHELLE, NY – LGS Specialty Sales, a leading importer of citrus, avocados, grapes, and persimmons shares an overview of the various commodities offered throughout the summer months. During the summer citrus season, LGS sources lemons, navels, minneolas, mandarins and cara cara oranges to the U.S. for its Darling Citrus® line.
While LGS imports lemons regularly throughout the year, the company is experiencing a strong summer lemon season from Argentina and Chile.
** Argentinian lemon season began in May and will last throughout August.
** Chilean lemon season began in late June and anticipates going through early October.
LGS provides other varieties of citrus throughout the summer and looks forward to the arrival of the following fruit:
- Navel season takes place from July through October.
- Minneola season is also on the horizon from mid-July through September. LGS anticipates a similar season to last year with a slight increase in volume.
- Mandarin season – W. Murcottswill also be available in mid-July from Peru followed by Chile. The mandarins are showing a great color and brix/acid ratio, which results in a sweeter fruit.
- Cara Cara season will be available late July through September.
- About LGS Specialty Sales, Ltd.
LGS Specialty Sales, Ltd. has been importing fruit from select growers around the world for close to 30 years. Today, LGS is a leading importer of clementines, oranges, avocados, grapes, lemons, minneolas, cara cara oranges and persimmons.
California strawberry shipments are on track to beat last year’s 202 million trays by a little over 16 million.
Naturipe Berry Growers of Salinas, CA finished its Santa Maria berry shipments the first week of June and then shifted to the Watsonville area.
May and June are peak months for California strawberries.
Early in the season, shippers were loading in Oxnard, Santa Maria and Watsonville.
Volume remained strong through June, will have a seasonal decline in July and August.
Bobalu Berries of Oxnard, CA hit peak loadings in mid-June. Although the company has been a longtime grower, this is the first year Bobalu Berries is shipping its own product.
The grower has an interesting location north and west of Santa Maria, close to the ocean, similar to the Watsonville area.
Watsonville-Salinas will be the primary area in California shipping strawberries as the season progresses, but that area is significantly larger than the state’s other berry growing regions.
Naturipe’s volume likely will end up equal to or a little more than last year.
Main Street Produce Inc. of Santa Maria likely will continue to ship strawberries from that area until December.
The company’s volume will be up about 15 percent over last year.