Posts Tagged “feature”
There has been double-digit increases in demand for fresh produce at supermarkets, and the USDA projects that retail prices for fruits and vegetables will come in below historical averages.
The USDA reports, “Consumer Price Index growth for fruits and vegetables has been lower than the 20-year average of 2 percent,” according to its October 23rd Food Price Outlook.
Current projections indicate retail prices will continue to grow slower than the historical average.
“This aggregate decline is driven by a 0.5 percentdrop in the price of fresh vegetables,” the USDA reports. No growth and a 0.1 percent increase in the price of fresh fruits and processed fruits and vegetables only partially offset the decline of fresh vegetables, the agency said.
So far in 2020, compared to 2019, overall grocery prices have increased 3.4 percent, while restaurant prices have climbed 2.8 percent. Forecast for the full year, overall 2020 grocery prices are expected to increase between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent, while restaurant prices are projected to rise between 2 percent and 3 percent.
For 2021, the USDA said overall grocery prices will increase between 1 percent and 2 percent, while restaurant prices are expected to increase between 2 percent and 3 percent.
Remaining U.S. fresh apples remaining to be shipped on November 1 were 12 percent less than the same time last year, according to the first storage report of the season from the U.S. Apple Association of Falls Church, VA.
Fresh apple remaining in storage for shipping on November 1 were 117.5 million (42-pound) cartons, 12 percent less than the inventories the same time a year ago.
Processing holdings were 45 million cartons, 6 percent less than the same time last year. Total apples in storage on November 1 were 162.5 million cartons, 10 percent less than a year ago and 4 percent below the 5-year average for that date.
The U.S. Apple fresh inventories on November 1, with percent change compared with a year ago:
- Gala: 24.2 million cartons, down 15 percent ; and
- Red delicious: 21.17 million cartons, down 24 percent;
- Honeycrisp: 15.34 million cartons, up 3.6 percent;
- Granny smith: 13.37 million cartons, down 15 percent;
- Golden delicious: 5.01 million cartons, down 38 percent.
- Cosmic Crisp: 1.631 million cartons, up 533 percent.
By Braden Goodere
Business Development Manager, ALC San Francisco
Resilience is an important part of this industry and this year is no exception.
I believe this quote by John Rockefeller perfectly describes the current state of our industry. “If you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the work paths of accepted success.”
The way growers, shippers, retailers, and transportation providers deal with ever constant change, have determined their success in the new “norm” we live in today.
Sales obviously has had to adapt, as well. The conventions that take place throughout the year have all taken place virtually and the in-person handshakes have been replaced by video chat requests. The most common word used to describe this year’s market is “uncertain” and with many clients working from home they depend on us more than ever to not just provide fair rates but to educate them about what we are seeing and hearing in the market.
Although rates started out lower than expected for summer, freight rates increased quickly and the usual decrease after the 4th of July never happened. This left many clients scrambling, looking to secure capacity for their supply chain.
Our team at Allen Lund Company stood by our clients, growing year-over-year and absorbing costs on a percentage of our freight. Much of the success in expanding our base over the past seven months is due to the hardworking, essential employees throughout our offices working diligently with our clients to navigate the road ahead.
As we prepare for the holidays, our industry and companies’ resilience will once again be put to the test. California outbound freight is now seeing dry van rates surpass the refrigerated freight market. Many of the large cultural festivals that occur during this time are not taking place in person, however, we still anticipate drivers continuing to take time off to spend time with family.
Keeping an open dialogue with the companies we work with allows them to keep surprises to a minimum and in turn, help them service their own customers and consumers. While the upcoming holidays will be different for everyone, we know that our customers depend on and appreciate the resilience of our team.
Braden Goodere began working for the Allen Lund Company in September of 2013 as a business development specialist. In September 2019, he was promoted to business development manager. Goodere joined the company with many years of experience in agriculture, having grown up on a ranch. He attended Cal Poly-SLO and received a BS in agribusiness finance.
Have you ever eaten a hot dog that tastes like a carrot? Neither have we, but that’s about to change.
Bolthouse Farms of Bakersfield, CA has developed a new lineup of “carrot swaps.”
The name of the line is Wunderoots, and it includes Carrot Dogs, Carrot Fettuccine and Riced Carrot.
Both the Carrot Rice and Carrot Fettuccine kits can be prepared on a stove top or in the microwave. Carrot Dogs are designed to be grilled, according to a news release.
Bolthouse recommends merchandising all items from the line in the value-added section of the produce department. The Wunderoots items are expected to debut in spring 2021.
Carrot Dogs may be the most unusual the bunch. In creating the hot dog alternative, the company shaves carrots into the shape of a traditional hot dog, brines them for a smoky flavor, packages them and puts them through high pressure processing so they have a longer shelf life.
Bolthouse has three flavors of the Carrot Dog: Classic American, Chorizo and Sweet Italian.
While the product still tastes like a carrot, it is seasoned with spices traditionally not used as much with produce, and it has the texture of a hot dog.
Bolthouse contends it’s just the beginning of finding kind of new and creative ways to make, in this case carrots, but a broader mission on that is really about making plants more fun, more exciting.
The company expresses optimism about the Riced Carrot product, which will be available with sauces including Sesame Stir Fry, Green Chile and Yellow Coconut Curry.
Consumers are used to kind of vegetable noodles, but this vegetable rice is much better nutritionally than eating white rice.
The Carrot Fettuccine kits will be available with sauce options Marinara, Spicy Thai Basil and Red Coconut Curry.
Lower Florida orange and grapefruit are expected this season compared to a year ago.
The USDA’s prediction of 57 million boxes of Florida oranges and 4.5 million boxes of Florida grapefruit means a 15 percent decrease in Florida orange production and 7 percent decrease in Florida grapefruit shipments compared to the 2019-20 season,
However, specialty citrus volumes is expected to be up slightly this season over last with 1.1 million boxes forecasted.
Much of the production drop is expect to be from for juice, rather than the fresh market, according to Florida growers.
DLF International of Fort Pierce, FL, expects to ship 1.6 million cartons of citrus for the fresh market, which is about 15 percent more than the previous season.
DLF produces about 90 percent oranges, but is looking to increase its grapefruit program, to possibly 30 percent of its product line.
Shipping got underway September 20 and is expected to finish in July, although grapefruit should wrap up in April because it doesn’t use cold storage.
Valencias do well in cold storage for part of June and July with barely 1 percent discards once pulled out and resorted
Duda Farm Fresh Fresh Foods of Oveido, FL., reports company’s navel crop is expected to show larger sizes and bigger volume than last season.
The company’s grapefruit crop should be very similar to last year, with the potential for greater packouts and potentially slightly more volume.
The firm’s juice orange crop is expected to be very similar to last season, with potentially lighter overall volume. One bright spot is specialty citrus.
The company began shipping grapefruit, specialties and oranges The third week of October, and navels began Nov. 2.
Grapefruit shipments will peak in January and February and continue through March. Specialties began their peak before Thanksgiving and will continue with peak volume through Christmas.
Florida Classic Growers of Dundee, FL., started packing its first Florida citrus in October with Florida hamlin juice oranges, fallglo and early pride tangerines, as well as navel oranges.
By mid-November, tango tangerines were in full force.
New in 2020 is a partnership with Riverfront Packing Co., the Packers of Indian River and Quality Fruit Packers Inc. Good volumes of grapefruit are expected through mid-March.
After the first of the year, Florida Classic will transition from early season orange varieties to its valencia orange crop, which should be in good supply and available to the end of May.
The honey tangerine crop will start then too, running through early March.
Seald Sweet LL of Vero Beach, FL., expects similar volume of Florida volume compared with last season. The company began packing in late October and was in peak volume by mid-November.
Near perfect growing conditions have been going on in the desert areas of California and Arizona. The Yuma, AZ forecast has highs in the low to mid 70s going well into December. If this continues there should be good, steady lettuce shipments with nice quality.
Coastline Family Farms of Salinas, CA launched its iceberg lettuce season in Yuma the first week of November, but other commodities, including broccoli, cauliflower, mixed leaf, romaine, green leaf and red leaf did not in Salinas until the last few days. The company gets started in the Brawley, CA the week of November 30th.
Boskovich Farms Inc. of Oxnard, CA will ship lettuce out of Yuma, as well as Oxnard this winter, but just about all of its other winter commodities will continue to be shipped exclusively from Oxnard.
The shipper grows green onions, radishes, leeks, beets, kales and Brussels sprouts in Mexico starting in November but will ship them from Oxnard.
Organic greens such as chards, kale and celery are grown in San Luis, Mexico, just south of Yuma.
The company’s Yuma iceberg lettuce program will kicked off the week of November 16 and continues through March.
Boskovich Farms will grow and ship celery, cabbages, romaine lettuce, napa, bok choy, parsleys, cilantro and spinach in Oxnard.
The company reports there will be a bit of a gap in November when Salinas is ending and before the desert gets fully geared.
the week of Oct. 18, which will run th
Peter Rabbit Farms of Coachella, CA, started its bell pepper and leaf lettuce in October and will continue through Christmas. The operation reports a few more green and red bell peppers this season. This will be the first year for its lettuce crop, so supplies are expected to be tight.
North Shore Greenhouses Inc., Thermal, CA is at it busiest time of year with its Roasting Mix which is a blend of rosemary, sage and thyme.
Prime Time International of Coachella, CA started harvest of green bell peppers, eggplant and chili peppers in the desert in October, while beans got underway the first week of November, followed by red bell peppers a couple of weeks later.
The company also started its hothouse production of red, yellow and orange bell peppers in Jalisco, Mexico, and began harvesting elongated red, yellow and orange bell peppers in Vizcaino in Baja California.
The Allen Lund Company has committed to sponsorship and participation in Navidad en el Barrio, an organization established in 1972 by Danny Villanueva, former NFL player, to provide a healthy Christmas dinner to the most underserved families in Southern California. This will be ALC’s 16th year supporting this event. This year due to the pandemic, distributing Christmas dinners to 10,000 families is the goal with all of the proper protocols in place.
“We look forward to working with Navidad en el Barrio every year”, commented Nora Trueblood, director of marketing for the Allen Lund Company. “This year has been challenging to make sure that the warehouse and distribution processes all meet COVID-19 protocols but we will ensure that the communities of Southern California will have plentiful dinners to feed their families this Christmas.”
The Allen Lund Company coordinates transportation for perishables from growers to Southern California. Depending upon the size and location of the donation, ALC will combine products in the most efficient way to move to Los Angeles, where the donations are divided for the Christmas dinners.
Over the years, Grimmway Enterprises, Inc., Wada Farms Marketing Group, LLC, Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Mission Produce, Inc., Rainer Fruit Co., and so many other companies have joined ALC in the effort to give the least served in Southern California a proper Christmas dinner. Donations will be accepted the week of December 7th and the dinners distributed Saturday, December 12, 2020.
| If you have an interest in participating in this event contact Nora Trueblood at 800.475.5863 or if you would like to donate, click here. Donate |
About Allen Lund Company:
Specializing as a national third-party transportation broker with nationwide offices and over 550 employees, the Allen Lund Company works with shippers and carriers across the nation to arrange dry, refrigerated (specializing in produce), and flatbed freight; additionally, the Allen Lund Company has a logistics and software division, ALC Logistics, and an International Division licensed by the FMC as an OTI-NVOCC #019872NF. If you are interested in joining the Allen Lund Company team, please click here.
Established in 1976, the Allen Lund Company was recognized by Food Logistics magazine as a 2019 Top 3PL & Cold Storage Provider for TransKool Solutions, Logistics Tech Outlook for our software division ALC Logistics as a 2018 Top 10 Freight Management Solution Providers, 2018 Food Logistics’ Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers list, 2017 Supply & Demand Chain Executive Top 100, 2017 Food Logistics 100+ Top Software and Tech Provider, a 2016 Top IT Provider by Inbound Logistics, 2015 Coca-Cola Challenger Carrier of the Year, 2015 Top Private Company in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Business Journal, 2015 Top 100+ Software and Technology Providers, 2015 Top 100 Logistics IT Provider by Inbound Logistics, a 2014 Great Supply Chain Partner, and was placed in Transport Topics’ “2014 Top 25 Freight Brokerage Firms.” The company manages over 365,000 loads annually, and received the 2013 “Best in Cargo Security Award.” In 2011, the company received the TIA 3PL Samaritan Award, and NASTC (National Association of Small Trucking Companies) named Allen Lund Company the 2010 Best Broker of the Year. More information is available at allenlund.com
Forever Fresh of Wilimington, DL reports anticipating good volumes of Chilean cherries and stone fruit as well as Peruvian grapes this season.
The importer notes its first two Chilean fruits this season are cherries and stone fruit and are looking “pretty good.” The Chilean cherry season is underway, and Chile’s total exports are expected to increase. The stone fruit season has just started.
Chile-based Garcés fruit – an owner of Forever Fresh is one of the world’s largest cherry exporters. It has been shipping steady volumes into the U.S. over at least a decade. The company may see a gradual increase in shipments to the U.S. as Garcés’ new plantings come into production, but there may not be a rise in total volumes from Chile despite an expected production increase of up to 15 percent. This is because the volumes out of Chile to the U.S. have been decreasing every year, with the volumes increasing in Chile.
The additional volume probably will be exported to Asia rather than coming to the U.S.
The stone fruit harvest started in mid-November, with the first arrivals in the U.S. set for early December. Additionally, there will be larger volumes of newer varieties – especially of plums and nectarines – from trees planted in Chile over the past five to six years.
The Peruvian grape season is underway, with expectations of a significant increase in volume over last year. There will be an increase in total production in Peru, although it will vary between different areas, but in general expectations are for around a 20 percent increase.
Forever Fresh’s first containers of Peruvian grapes arrived in mid-November, with the peak season set to begin in December.
Containerized cargo business at Port Manatee in Palmetto, FL has rose at a record pace, in part due to fruit imports.
The port posted a 55 percent increase as the fiscal year ended in September, with an all-time high of 88,466 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs). The previous fiscal year saw 57,239 TEUs, which was also a huge increase, at almost a 50 percent increase.
“With container throughput more than doubling over the course of just two years, Port Manatee is increasingly fulfilling regional consumer demands for goods ranging from fresh produce to appliances,” Carlos Buqueras, Port Manatee’s executive director, said in a news release. “As our dockside container yard expansion project advances toward mid-2021 completion, Port Manatee is positioning to continue to efficiently handle rapidly growing cargo volumes.”
The container yard expansion will nearly double the current 10-acre paved area.
The port’s container trade is being driven by growth of World Direct Shipping, which imports produce and other goods from Mexico since 2014, and Fresh Del Monte Produce Co., which has been importing fruit from Latin America for decades through the port.
Priscilla Whisenant Trace, chairwoman of the Manatee County Port Authority, said the port’s latest cargo cargo increases, happened as the port implemented enhanced health and safety measures because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We commend the men and women who are maintaining essential operations at Port Manatee, serving consumers of Southwest Florida and beyond,” she said in the release. “Sustained growth of Port Manatee’s container trade is a testament to success of our diverse strategy, with key infrastructure investments poised to facilitate even greater cargo activity and deliver still more positive socioeconomic impacts throughout our region.”