Posts Tagged “avocado shipments”
Imported citrus and fruit from South Africa and Peru are now arriving at U.S. ports.
Fresh South African citrus is arriving from South Africa every 10 days through October at the Gloucester (NJ) Marine Terminal.
The season’s first break bulk ship bearing South Africa citrus discharged June 23 at the marine terminal, located on the Delaware River.
There were 3,400 pallets. South Africans will ship a total of about 30,000 or 40,000 pallets of citrus to the United States this season This is 15th season for South African summer citrus in the U.S. Beginning in 1999, the program had 50 tons of citrus, which has grown to around 41,000 tons per year.
Avocados from Peru
Avocado shipments are showing a significant increase this year with imported fruit from Peru. By mid June around 125 million pounds of Peruvian avocados had arrived in the U.S., primarily to ports at Los Angeles, Houston and Philadelphia. However the majority of avocados are destined for markets along the Eastern seaboard and in the Southeastern United States. This amount of avocados coming to the U.S. from Peru this season is more than double of a year ago.
Volume is headed upwards from coastal areas for California vegetable shipments, as well as stone fruit out of the San Joaquin Valley. We’ll take a look at both, with a note to be on the look out for some quality issues in both regions.
Vegetable Shipments
There are strong shipments of vegetables coming out of the Santa Maria and Salinas valleys, although we’re not boasting of any bumper crops. Temperatures in both valleys recently topped 90 degrees. When loading, just keep an eye out for what’s going onto the truck in case there are issues with tip burn on some of the leafy items. Also make sure the receiver is aware of any problems, if a problem develops.
At the same time, the heat could bring on some fields faster, which would increase shipments.
Avocado Shipments
California’s avocado crop, which is currently in full production, has been estimated at less than 60 percent of the volume of last year’s 500 million pounds.
Stone Fruit Shipments
California has recently been shipping in very light volume of stone fruit from the Coachella Valley and the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Now it’s time for the main varieties and product in the primary SJV production areas to get cranked up. Volume is expected to be about normal. While peaches and nectarine quality seems to be pretty good, use caution loading apricots and plums until we get a better feel for quality. Just reading between the lines of shipper comments leads one to suspect potential quality issues due to weather factors. In general, stone fruit shipments are about 10 to 14 days earlier than normal, which means there will be good volume loadings in time for arrivals at destination for the Memorial weekend of May 24-26.
Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $7500 to New York City.