Posts Tagged “feature”
Grimmway Farms is now shipping the new crop of organic red and gold potatoes from its Cal-Organic Farms division from California.
The company’s Lamont, Calif., facility started shipping the red and gold potatoes in late April, followed by the organic fingerlings in May and russets in early June, according to a news release.
The company is harvesting reds and golds in Coachella Valley and will move to Kern County in late May.
“There is solid demand for new crop potatoes due to an uptick in consumption this spring,” Bob Borda, vice president of organic sales at Grimmway Farms, said in the release. “We’ve seen great growing conditions with mild weather in the desert and harvest volumes look optimal, so we’re looking forward to opening the season strong with plenty of supply and a good quality crop.”
The company packs red and golds in 3- and 5-pound sacks and 50-pound bulk cartons, with size A, B or C spuds, according to the release. A medley of red and golds are also available in a 3-pound pack.
Cal-Organic rainbow fingerlings will be available later in the season, with gold, red and purple potatoes in 1.5-pound mesh packs and 25- and 50-pound bulk cartons, with single-color options available for bulk orders, according to the release.
A near-shutdown of foodservice outlets and booming demand from retailers resulted in Texas onion grower-shippers opening their season with unprecedented market conditions.
There were ups and downs in onion shipment due to the combination of factors — caused by social distance restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. in March.
Frontera Produce Ltd. of Edinburg, Tx reports onion shipment got off to a quick start out of the gate, driven by higher retail demand. However, by March 27th Loadings nearly came to a standstill. But a better balance has since come about as retailers learn to balance their orders.
Onion shipments started around two weeks early this year, compared to 2019.
Looking at the fast start from a volume perspective, during the week of March 15-21, Texas onion shipments totaled 15.4 million pounds (385,000 40-pound cartons), up more than fivefold from just 2.8 million pounds (70,000 cartons) the same week last year.
Bebo Distributing Co. Inc. of Pharr, Texas, notes there had be been good supplies of Texas onions going into May.
In 2019, the USDA reported Texas shipments of top commodities were:
- Cabbage: 86.04 million pounds;
- Grapefruit: 183.13 million pounds;
- Onions: 246.2 million pounds;
- Oranges: 83.13 million pounds;
- Seeded watermelons: 22.64 million pounds; and
- Seedless watermelons: 598.28 million pounds.
Retailers are asking shipping companies to push back deliveries, which may drag global container shipments down as much as 30 percent in the next few months. The reason is warehouses are filling with goods ranging from refrigerators to washing machines.
The International Chamber of Shipping reports shipments have fallen an estimated 15 percent so far this year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Second-quarter declines, compared with a year ago, will depend on how much governments reopen economies. Inventories of goods such as apparel, textiles, white goods, are full, and receivers of these goods asking shipping lines whether they can store these goods for a period of time or slow their ships down or basically delay taking delivery.
The slump is a setback for shipping giants such as Cosco Shipping Holdings Co. and Ocean Network Express Holdings Ltd., which started the year strong as healthy trade volumes allowed the industry to boost rates. That optimism has now evaporated as the virus outbreak is forcing shoppers to stay home, crimping retail sales in the biggest consumer markets.
Ocean Network Express notes forward bookings for shipments from Asia to North America and Europe have slowed for April and into May. Shipments of products from North and Latin America, Europe and Oceania to Asia are still strong. Ocean Network Express is Japan’s largest container-shipping operator.
In addition to lower volumes, the industry has been hit by restrictions aimed at containing the outbreak. Ensuring that seafarers can board and transfer onto ships amid port curbs and canceled flights remains a major challenge.
Fresh produce retail sales were up 22 percent for the week ending April 26, compared to the same time a year ago.
The market research company IRI reports demand for fresh produce is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. During the last week of April fresh vegetable sales were up 30.4 percent, while fresh fruit sales jumped 16.2 percent.
The numbers represent a substantial jump over the previous week, which was competing with the week of Easter in 2019. It also means the highest figures since the end of the demand peak in the middle of March.
A report by 210 Analytics, IRI and the Produce Marketing Association also points out sales of frozen and shelf-stable produce remain highly elevated, being up 57.6 percent and 46.3 percent respectively.
IRI reports the numbers very clearly show higher everyday demand is being driven by in-home consumption and it is here to stay for the foreseeable future.
As the market is adjusting to the new era of COVID-19, some lingering issues remain with the supply chain. Then there is the totally new shopping arena affecting everything from the demand for products to having to find new ways to drive impulse buying.
The top three growth items in the U.S. in terms of absolute dollar gains over the same week in 2019 were berries (+$35 million), lettuce (+$29 million) and potatoes, (+$24 million).
However, at the category level, significant differences continue existing between dollars and volume, driven by deflationary pressure. With fruit, there were big decreases in price per volume for items such as avocados (-16.1 percent), grapes (-12.5 percent) and tangelos (-9.9 percent) the week ending April 26.
Concerning vegetables, onions had a strong 37.3 percent increase in dollars. However volume sales were up 55.1 percent, with the retail price per volume down more than 11 percent.
Other produce items with large decreases in the price per volume were celery (-24.8 percent), peppers (-12.6 percent) and Brussels sprouts (-6.6 percent).
There was an opposite affect for other items, especially potatoes, with dollar sales still going strong, at +50.8 percent, and volume up 38.7 percent. Retail potato prices were 8.8 percent higher versus the same week a year ago.
As for fruit, the top 10 items in terms of dollar sales saw flat sales for two items (grapes and melons) but double-digit increases for seven.
Oranges continue a hot streak with another terrific 71 percent gain versus year ago. Highlighting nutritional benefits, particularly Vitamin C, in many other fruits and vegetables may benefit sales in weeks to come.
Chile is predicint an 8 percent increase in total citrus exports of 353,000 metric tons (MT) this season. Big increases in soft citrus volumes that more than offset expected declines in oranges is getting most of the credit for the overall rise.
The forecast calls for a 24 percent rise in mandarins, a 21 percent increase in clementines, flat lemons volumes, and a 13. percent decrease in orange exports.
The volume forecast for mandarins and clementines is 115,000MT and 61,000MT respectively. The year-on-year increase in volumes of both categories is due to new plantings made over the last 10 years.
An estimated 1463 acres have been planted annually and that the surface area is higher than 22,239 acres. Meanwhile, the decline in orange volumes to 87,000MT is due to a decline in surface area over recent years.
Many growers have been opting to either regraft or plant other crops. Lemon exports are expected to come in at 90,000MT.
A late winter freeze is being blamed for what is expected to be a double digit drop in Mexican grape shipments this season.
Total volume in 2020 likely will be down about 20 percent from a year earlier — 19.7 million cartons, compared to 23.7 million in 2019.
Just about all varieties will be down in 2020t. The forecast calls for 800,000 boxes of perlettes versus 1.7 million in 2019; 8.7 million red seedless in 2020 versus 10.8 million in 2019; mid-green, 4.2 million in 2020 versus 5.1 million in 2019; red globe, 300,000 in 2020 versus 307,000 in 2019; and black, 1.5 million in 2020 versus 1.9 million in 2019.
The exceptions, with larger volumes seen this year over last, were early primes, at 2.8 million boxes versus 2.6 million in 2019; and “others”, 1.5 million versus 1.2 million in 2019.
Pandol Bros. Inc. of Dinuba, CA reports a good winter and a freeze, which had an impact on total production.
The freeze was particularly hard on the early season perlettes.
Fresh Farms of Nogales, AZ reports the first grapes shipped out of Jalisco in early April, with Sonora grapes starting to ship in early May, which would be normal.
The Oppenheimer Group of Vancouver, British Columbia was planning an early May start, which would be earlier than a year ago,
The is expecting to have good volume this season despite the expected smaller crop.
Chilean table grape exports are wrapping up with 6 percent less volume from a year ago, although shipments still increased to some key markets. Meanwhile, Mexican grape loadings are getting underway.
The Chilean Fruit Exporters Association reports as of the week of April 20th, 551,459 metric tons (MT) of fruit had been shipped, compared to 618,590 MT last year. The U.S. and Canada account for 52 percent Chilean table grape exports, although shipments to those markets have fallen by 5 percent this season.
Exports to Asia fell by 15 percent, after the coronavirus outbreak severely affected market conditions over recent months. Asia remains the number-two market.
Europe and Russia were the only two markets to which Chile managed to ship more grapes, both increasing by more 10 percent, with Europe receiving 74,990MT and Russia 9,792MT.
Exports to other Latin American countries fell by 17 percent to 29,476 MT, and to the Middle East fell by 3 percent to 8,625 MT. Fruit quality has been generally good in general. The decline in exports is in line with industry expectations at the beginning of the season.
The Peruvian avocado ramped up volumes in mid-April.
Following a year-on-year drop in export volumes last season of 17 percent, Peru is forecasting a 5 percent increase over 2018, when 336,000MT were exported. But unlike 2018, when the volumes were greatly concentrated in a few weeks, supplies are more consistent and spread out throughout the season. The peak volume is expected to be from May through July.
The Peruvian Hass Avocado Growers’ Association (ProHass) reports there had been a slight slowdown in exports, but it was believed this was more related to companies learning about how to implement the new measures under the covid-19 pandemic and also due to market uncertainty over recent weeks.
There have so far been few problems in terms of logistics in Peru, with
enough truck drivers available and accommodating to the new schedules. The flow of containers from the ports to the packing houses and vice versa has also not been much of an issue, but the response times and efficiency of these operations have slowed. The first exports of the Peruvian avocado season have been focused on the European market.
Peruvian exports to the U.S. has been increasing in recent years. Peruvian avocado supplies are viewed as a good complement to the domestic and Mexican supplies. Exports from Mexico are at the lowest point in the Northern Hemisphere summer months.
While avocados from Peru arrive mainly at East Coast ports in the U.S. they as shipped nationwide.
Europe is still Peru’s primary market, and it is now shipping there, as well as China and Japan.
During the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, the food supply chain has been called upon to create stability for the country. As the largest agricultural employer in the country, California strawberry farms were among the first to implement CDC guidance. Strawberry farms are committed to protecting farm worker health, maintaining farm jobs and harvesting every box for American consumers.
For consumers, strawberries have a special role, as one of the top two fruits designated as high in vitamin C. During the spring (April 15-June 1) strawberries are the second most consumed, high in vitamin C, fresh fruit, after oranges.
Now, strawberry supplies are threatened by the COVID-19 peak in April and downward trend into May – which has already brought food service to a standstill and stores to regulate consumer access.
Perishable items will be most affected by the COVID-19 peak, especially crops such as berries that will be in full production during the same period of April through May. Blueberry farms in Florida, Georgia, and California, as well as California strawberry farms project more than 30% of the crop will be disrupted – threatening the loss of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars. For comparison, fresh strawberry retail sales were over $953 million during the 13 weeks ending June 16, 2019.
Our options are few: leave the crop to rot in the field or pick every box and have faith in our supply chain partners to get this important source of vitamins and nutrients into the hands of consumers, through supermarkets, food banks, online, and every other channel available.
Our choice is clear – harvest every box. We have asked the US Department of Agriculture for assistance and call upon every link in the supply chain to restock shelves and help us preserve over 70,000 jobs related to delivering healthy, nutritious strawberries to consumers, and for all to stay safe.
Sincerely,
Hector Gutierrez, Farmer & Chairman
Rick Tomlinson, President
California avocado shipments are far outpacing last season, primarily because of heavy demand from retailers in early and mid-March amid the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the California Avocado Commission reports loadings have now slowed down in line with retail demand.
Despite retail orders being offset somewhat by the huge drop in foodservice demand, California avocado growers harvested nearly 46.7 million pounds this season through March 22.
This compares to only 5.1 million pounds for the same time last year. Some of this increase is due to a larger crop in 2020, but much is due to strong early-season demand. There has been a lot consumers stocking up and panic-buying, especially with the start of the pandemic, but there have been some expectations of softer retail traffic going into April. This has resulted in many growers to temporarily slow down on harvesting.
Unlike some produce items, mature avocados can remain safely on their trees, providing some harvesting flexibility.