Posts Tagged “feature”
Exports of avocado from Peru are expected to grow by 8 to 10 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year. Growth likely will be with exports to Europe, but supply problems in the U.S. could change these projections.
An article in Agaria.pe cites numbers from Peruvian avocado growers’ association ProHass. It notes 2021 was already a year of substantial growth, increasing 20 percent compared to 2020 to hit 483,00 tons of shipped fruit.
This increase was mainly expected to come from exports destined for the Netherlands which supply the EU.
The season for Peru avocados starts in April or early May, when it ripens enough to reach the quality for the U.S. market. According to the report, this allows Peru to get in on consumption trends associated with July 4th and the Labor Day long weekend in September.
Last year Peru’s trade minister lauded the growth registered in the value of Peru’s avocado exports. At the time it was noted 2021 exports, not including the final two months of August and September, were already up 14 percent compared to the entire 2020 season.
Strawberry shipments are about 15% ahead of where it was this time last at California Giant Berry Farms, based in Watsonville, CA.
The growing/shipping operation also has a year-round supply of sustainably grown fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.
California Giant Berry Farms expects to begin peak strawberry shipments from its Southern California ranches in late March. Oxnard began picking strawberries the first week of January will quickly ramp up it approaches peak volume in March.
The Santa Maria spring crop began harvest the second week of January and will double in volume week after week through March.
Some Red River Valley potato shippers could finish a little earlier than usual this year because North Dakota and Minnesota growers planted fewer acres of red potatoes in 2021. Drought conditions also reduced yields.
This could result in storage inventories being depleted four to six weeks ahead of normal.
The Northern Plains Potato Growers Association of East Grand Forks, MN reports some of the region’s 13 shippers will be finishing in March and April, rather than in May.
In the Northern Plains Region, potatoes are grown on about 70,000 acres in North Dakota and 8,800 acres in Minnesota. Growers planted fewer acres of red potatoes in 2021,
Global logistics company C.H. Robinson of Eden Prairie, MN and Waymo Via of Mountain View, CA, the trucking and local delivery unit of autonomous driving technology company Waymo, have formed a long-term strategic partnership to mutually explore the practical application of autonomous driving technology in logistics and supply chains.
The partnership combines the benefits of Waymo’s innovative autonomous driving technology, the Waymo Driver, with C.H. Robinson’s Navisphere technology, which is the world’s most-connected logistics platform.
The collaboration will focus, initially, on running multiple pilots in the Dallas-Houston transportation lane, with Waymo Via autonomous trucks hauling C.H. Robinson’s customer freight. During and after the pilots, the companies will collaborate to shape the future development and expansion of autonomous driving technology as an additional transportation solution. This will provide much-needed capacity, help improve the carrier and driver experience and address the business challenges posed by long-term driver shortages.
“We are excited to partner with Waymo Via to explore how autonomous driving technology can help bring increased capacity and sustainability into our logistics strategies. Together, we are going to harness this emerging freight technology and its potential on behalf of customers and carriers,” said Chris O’Brien, Chief Commercial Officer at C.H. Robinson. “We believe there is a real opportunity to bring our scale and information advantage to bear to help develop transportation solutions for them and their ability to participate in and benefit from AV. C.H. Robinson is also best positioned to represent the role of drivers and small and mid-size carriers in a more autonomous future.”
“We look forward to this collaboration with C.H. Robinson, both for their deep roots and experience in logistics and transportation, but also as a company that shares our vision of how technology and autonomous trucking can change our industry for the better,” said Charlie Jatt, Head of Commercialization for Trucking at Waymo. “C.H. Robinson’s size, scale and platform gives us access to rich and unique transportation data along with customer relationships and pilot opportunities to help bring our Waymo Via solution to the market.”
Bobalu Berry Farms is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year and the Jones Family has announced it has transitioned to a fully integrated company.
Headquartered in Oxnard, CA, Bobalu for the first time will ship California fresh strawberries 12 months a year. In the past it has typically relied on fresh volume from Mexico during the winter months after the Santa Maria fall crop concludes, and before the spring season kicks off in Oxnard.
However, for the first time as the 60th anniversary is celebrated in 2022, the company has added a fall Oxnard crop in addition to Santa Maria’s fall program that will come on a bit later carrying fresh California fruit into 2023. Now Oxnard will be the first and the last district harvesting each year for the company within the state. The addition of the crop from Mexico will compliment domestic fruit providing a beneficial overlap during the holidays.
Bobalu points out in 2021 it introduced software integration as part of its expansion plans.
Strawberry shipments from Florida are looking good for the next two months, despite recent cold snap which did not do any long-lasting harm to the strawberry plants.
Well-Pick of Watsonville, CA also has operations in the Sunshine state and notes the peak shipping season is just beginning and will continue into April. The grower/shipper expects its volume to be as good if not a little better than a year.
A main concern at this point in the season every year is if the weather becomes too warm. This can shorten the season and the distance the berries can be hauled in good condition.
Plant City area strawberries – grossing about $2800 to Chicago; $3800 to New York City.
Columbian ag exports have set a new record reaching $8.496 billion in 2021, with 27 countries having opened their markets to 57 Colombian products through the government’s Health Diplomacy strategy. The announcement was made recently by Colombia’s Ministry of Agriculture.
The main destinations of Colombian exports during 2021 were the United States, with a participation of $3.147 billion, which represents 37.0 percent; Belgium, with $447 million, with a percentage of 5.3 percent; the Netherlands, with $399 million, representing 4.7 percent; and Germany, with $362 million, with a total of 4.3 percent.
Agronegocios reports this figure is 112 percent more than the goal established within the National Development Plan and 20 percent more than the $7.027 billion exported the previous year.
According to the report of the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane), traditional products such as coffee, bananas and flowers accounted for 62.8 percent, while non-traditional products represented 37.2 percent.
Among these non-traditional foods, the total amount was $3.162 billion. Colombia saw a considerable increase in beef and offal (the entrails and internal organs of an animal used as food), with a 120.7 percent boost from last year; milk and its derivatives, with 85 percent; Tahiti lime, with 60.3 percent; passion fruit, with 55.1 percent; and avocado, with 50 percent increase over 2020.
The Mexican mango season got going in early January with Ataulfo mangos from the southern areas of Mexico.
GM Produce Sales LLC of Hidalgo, TX. has been importing Mexican mangoes since 1984 and report ideal weather is resulting in heavy volume of yellow mangos from southern Mexico.
However, heaviest volume is seen for March and April which includes St Patrick’s Day (March 17) and Easter (April 17).
While yellow mangos will be in good supply soon, red mango shipments are expected to be delayed.
A late start for Mexican red mangos from some southern areas of Mexico had had bad weather. While light loadings are expected in March, as in recent years, late April, May and June should have much heavier volume leading up to Cinco de Mayo (May 5) and Memorial Day (May 30).
East Coast North America container ports congestion worsened as more ships diverted to avoid West Coast gridlock, further delaying the flow of goods to consumers and driving up costs, according to S&P Global Platt.
There where were 31 ships anchored off the Port of Charleston, South Carolina, Feb. 22 while another 13 were waiting off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, according to Platts cFlow trade-flow analytics software.
At the Port of Houston, 11 ships were anchored in queue to berth and near the Port of New York and New Jersey, nine ships were queued.
“We’ve had our boxes sitting and waiting to enter New York/New Jersey for more than two weeks,” an importer based on the East Coast said. “It’s impacted us for sure but with nearly all ports facing the same situation, there’s nothing we can do to avoid it for now.”
Port congestion at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex still overshadowed the East Coast, with 66 ships in queue to berth Feb. 22, down from a record of 109 ships on Jan. 9, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California.
Platts cFlow data showed four ships anchored near the ports with one drifting nearby. The Safety and Air Quality Area was established in November to reduce air pollution by keeping waiting ships 150 miles off the California coastline, and many shipping lines electing to slow steam the trans-Pacific voyage to save on fuel.
Other West Coast ports have reduced congestion during the Lunar New Year slowdown in China earlier in February. There were nine ships in queue at the Port of Vancouver and six ships waiting to berth at the Port of Oakland, while Seattle-Tacoma had eliminated its queue by Feb. 22, according to cFlow.
Meanwhile, the number of container ships waiting for berths in Los Angeles/Long Beach has continued to decline, falling to 66 on Wednesday — as low as it was back in mid-September.
The longer voyage from Asia to the US East Coast through the Panama Canal loses its appeal if wait times for transit are long at arrival, however, shipping lines are looking to increase rates on the route in March with increased demand.
The Port of Savannah was one bright spot, having eliminated its queue of ships at anchor by deploying five pop-up container yards across the Southeast US to move cargoes out of port terminals. A buildup of cargoes and equipment in the ports tends to slow productivity.
Market participants will closely watch developments with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union representing West Coast port workers, whose multi-year contract with shipping lines and marine terminals expires July 1. West Coast port operations were disrupted for months when contract talks hit an impasse in 2014-2015, causing many shippers to divert to the East Coast wherever possible.
“A West Coast labor strike could be the biggest issue for shipping this year,” a US-based freight forwarder said. “That could see widespread force majeure declarations on contracts between [cargo owners] and shipping lines, and a huge swing in higher spot rates to the East Coast.”
New Zealand’s 2022 kiwifruit harvest has kicked off with the first crop being picked February 17 in Te Puke and more kiwifruit to be picked around New Zealand over the coming months.
The 2022 season has the potential to be another record-breaking year with more kiwifruit produced than ever before. A forecast of at least 190 million trays will need to be harvested, overtaking last year’s record of over 177 million trays. On average, each tray has around 30 pieces of kiwifruit.
Zespri’s new RubyRed variety is picked first which is then followed by the Gold and Green varieties. The harvest traditionally peaks in mid-April and runs through until June.
The sweet, berry-tinged tasting Red kiwifruit will also be picked for supermarket shelves in New Zealand and some overseas markets this year. 2022 marks the first year that RubyRed will be sold as a commercial variety.
Zespri’s Chief Grower, Industry and Sustainability Officer, Carol Ward says, “With this season’s harvest about to commence, growers and the wider industry will again be following all government protocols and working hard to safely pick, pack and ship what’s expected to be another bumper crop of at least 190 million trays, maybe more.
The success of the 2022 kiwifruit harvest hinges on the ability for industry’s supply chain to operate effectively under the quickly changing COVID-19 settings. The industry requires 24,000 people to pick and pack the crop.
However, forecast surges in Covid-19 infection rates are expected to restrict the availability of New Zealanders. In addition, the opening of New Zealand’s borders is expected to be too late to replace the 6,500 backpackers required for harvest.
New Zealand has some 2,800 growers who produce kiwifruit across over 32,124 acres of orchards between Kerikeri in the north and Motueka in the south.
CEO of New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc. (NZKGI), Colin Bond says that the industry has built experience over the past two years on how to operate a harvest under COVID-19 restrictions. “The health and safety of our workforce is our first priority and NZKGI is working continually with government agencies to develop operational processes to mitigate COVID-19 infections”.
The industry is working collaboratively to do everything we can to get all the fruit off the vines – and that must be done in a way which puts our people first”.