Posts Tagged “feature”
By Americold Realty Trust
ATLANTA- Americold Realty Trust (NYSE: COLD), (the “Company” or “Americold”), the world’s largest owner and operator of temperature-controlled facilities and infrastructure, today announced that the Company has acquired privately-held PortFresh Holdings, LLC (“PortFresh”), a leading temperature-controlled operator servicing fresh produce trade primarily through the Port of Savannah. In connection with its acquisition of PortFresh, Americold plans to build a new 15 million cubic foot state-of-the-art cold storage facility on adjacent land owned by PortFresh. The total cost of the acquisition, including approximately 163 acres of contiguous land, is approximately $35 million. The cost of the planned new build is expected to be between $55 to $65 million. Americold funded the acquisition with cash on hand and expects to fund the development from available capital resources.
“The Port of Savannah is one of the fastest growing ports in the United States and has seen increased traffic of temperature-controlled trade. With this investment, Americold is fulfilling our customers’ requests to expand into this growing market, which provides an efficient and cost-effective solution to meet their import and export needs. We believe this development project represents a significant long term growth opportunity for the Company, as we continue to grow our scale and develop our partnership with the Port of Savannah,” said Fred Boehler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Americold Realty Trust.
The planned new facility will feature 37,000 pallet positions, advanced blast freezing capabilities, and space and infrastructure to support refrigerated-containerized trade. Americold expects to begin construction on the new facility in the first half of 2019, with the opening expected to be in the first quarter of 2020.
The Port of Savannah imported 1.8 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containerized cargo in 2017, a 10.6% increase over 2016, making it the nation’s fourth-largest port, as reported by the 2018 U.S. Ports Report from Descartes Datamyne. The port’s Southern US location, ocean carrier network and access to transportation channels, including to growing markets in South America and Europe, reduces transportation time as compared to Northeastern ports, which require additional trucking and transport. The Port of Savannah continues to expand and has a stated strategy to double its storage capacity with its partners in the next 10 years.
“The Georgia Ports Authority is pleased to welcome Americold to the Savannah market,” said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. “This announcement represents yet another expansion of Savannah’s position as a hub for the handling of cold and chilled cargoes, and complements the port’s continued on-terminal development of refrigerated cargo infrastructure.”
Brian Kastick, PortFresh’s Founder and CEO, has joined Americold with this acquisition and will help to grow the Company’s fresh produce business initiatives. “I am delighted to join the Americold platform at this exciting time. PortFresh has developed the import market for temperature controlled logistics in the Port of Savannah. I believe that Americold’s brand, platform and operational expertise will enhance PortFresh’s capabilities to serve both our existing and new customers,” stated Kastick.
The returns for the development project and acquisition are consistent with the Company’s stated return expectations for such projects upon stabilization.
About Americold
Americold is the world’s largest owner and operator of temperature-controlled warehouses. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Americold owns and operates 156 temperature-controlled warehouses (as of September 30, 2018), with approximately 928 million refrigerated cubic feet of storage, in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Argentina. Americold’s facilities are an integral component of the supply chain connecting food producers, processors, distributors and retailers to consumers.
A 2 percent increase in Southern hemisphere apple crop production is forecast for 2019 compared with 2018.
A new report from the World Apple and Pear Association said 2019 Southern Hemisphere pear production is forecast at 1.33 million metric tons, up 2 percent from last year and off 3 percent from the three-year average.
Apple Shipments
Southern Hemisphere apple production this year is 5.26 million metric tons, up 2 percent from last year and the three-year average, the forecast states.
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, and South Africa all are forecast to increase volume, while Chile’s crop will be lower, according to the estimate.
Chile, the leading Southern Hemisphere apple producer, is forecast to produce a crop of 1.67 million metric tons, down 5 percent from last year off 1 percent below the three-year average.
Brazil is the second-ranked producer of apples in the Southern Hemisphere and will see output of 1.15 million metric tons, up 5 percent from a year ago, and 6 percent above the three-year average.
By variety, the association said fuji production by all Southern Hemisphere countries will be 826,000 metric tons, up 22 percent from a year ago and 10 percent up from the three-year average. Gala output is forecast to at 1.95 million metric tons, down 7 percent from a year ago and 1 percent above the three-year average.
Pear Shipments
With overall Southern Hemisphere pear production pegged up 2 percent compared with the last year, the association said Argentina pear output is forecast at 600,000 metric tons, up 4 percent from last year and down 9 percent from the three-year average. Argentina accounts for 45 percent of Southern Hemisphere pear output.
South Africa, with 32 percent of Southern Hemisphere pear output, is forecast with 423,000 metric tons.
New Zealand Apples
The New Zealand apple industry is expecting another bumper crop, and projected exported apple crop value is expected to hit $1 billion by 2020.
New Zealand exporter T&G Global LTD expects to pack a total of about 7 million cartons, according to a news release, including Jazz and Envy varieties.
The company’s apples have traditionally been sold to the United Kingdom and U.S., but Asia and the Middle East are growing in sales, with half of T&G exports going to those markets, according to the release.
A California heatwave in 2018 did a “number” on the California avocado crop, which is expecting its smallest volume in a decade. The heat hit some of the state’s key growing regions, and most shipments this season will be limited to the Western states. Meanwhile, there was significant increase in avocado imports last year.
Current estimates are for production of 175 million pounds (79,000 metric tons), which would be 48 percent lower than last year’s 338 million pounds (153,000MT), according to The California Avocado Committee.
There hasn’t been this small of a crop since the 2009 season, when 174.5 million pounds were produced. Between then and the previous season production has fluctuated greatly, ranging from a high of 534.5 million pounds in 2010 to a low of 216 million pounds in 2017.
Two other major players in the global avocado market during the same period – Peru and South Africa – are expected to have back-to-back seasonal declines in production.
There are areas that should have had much better production which were hit hard by heat that went well over 100 degrees, with some areas reaching 116 or 117 degrees for a short period of time.
Adding to the problem was cold temperatures in the prior months, along with wildfires the previous year.
The duration of the season is set to be shorter than last year, with peak avocado shipments occurring from late March through July, as opposed to last year when volume continued into September.
Imported Avocados
There was a 15 percent increase in U.S. imported avocado volume during 2018, while crop value plunged 11 percent.
Trade statistics from the USDA indicate the total value of U.S. avocado imports totaled $2.35 billion, down from $2.64 billion in 2017. By volume, U.S. imports of avocados reached 1.04 million metric tons, up 15 percent from 900,200 metric tons in 2017.
The USDA reported Mexico accounted for 87 percent of the total volume and 88 percent of the total value of U.S. avocado imports.
U.S. imports of Mexican avocado grew 17 percent by volume but shrunk 11 percent in value in 2018, according to the USDA.
Peru was the second leading avocado supplier to the U.S., accounting for 8 percent of the value and volume of U.S. imports.
Chile ranked as the third most important avocado supplier, representing 3 percent of both volume and value of U.S. imports.
The Chilean Fresh Fruit Association worked with The Long Beach Beer Lab Brewery in Long Beach, CA, to produce a unique Chilean plum beer. A total of 4,000 16-ounce bottles are currently being distributed throughout California.
“The key focus of the CFFA is on retail promotions, but this was a really fun and creative way to utilize Chilean plums,” said Steve Hattendorf, western region merchandiser for the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association. “An importer donated the plums and the Beer Lab created a delicious beer out of them. We look forward to potentially working with the Beer Lab on other fruit-forward beers.”
Headed by BrewMaster and Chief Scientist, Dr. Levi Fried, the Beer Lab is a small manufacturing brewery dedicated to fermentation-forward beverages, including sours, one of the hottest beer categories. According to Nielsen, for the 52 week through May 20, 2017, dollar sales of sour beer styles soared 49 percent in off-premise outlets. According to Dr. Fried, fresh fruits like Chilean plums are the perfect addition to sours.
“Chilean plums were the perfect addition to our crisp farmhouse ale, Milk the Mustache. Blended with our sourdough ale and aged for three months with the delicious hand processed Chilean plums, the end result was a crisp, complex and satisfying beer,” Dr. Fried stated. The Beer Lab promoted the Chilean Plum beer by offering t-shirts, bottles and glassware gift packages.
“We look forward to teaming up with Fruits from Chile in the future on more ‘exbeeriments,’ adding other great tasting Chilean fruit to our beer,” Dr. Fried added.
When it’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere, Chilean summer fruits are in peak supply. Grapes, peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, and blueberries are currently available at retailers throughout North America.
Early season imported grapes from South America have been lower, although with the arrival of March volume is improving.
To date, Chilean grapes imported through early March were down 32 percent compared to last year, reports the USDA, with imported Peruvian grapes being down 46 percent compared to the same time a year ago.
A Pro*Act market report dated March 6th notes imported grape supplies from Chile and Peru were increasing and quality was good in early March. A consistent volume of imported grapes is expected through early April, when the transition of Mexican grapes starts crossing the U.S. border in mid-April.
On March 6th the USDA’s Market News Service reported prices for extra large Chilean red seedless grapes at $20 to $24 per carton, up from $16 to $20 per carton the same day a year ago.
The early March market was under downward pressure with increasing volume and prices may decline with ample volume in the near term, according to the report.
A range of retail prices for red seedless grapes in selected U.S. cities, ranged from a low ad price of $1.28 per pound in Detroit to a high of $3.99 per pound in Seattle and New York.
Retail promotions of red seedless grapes were reported by the USDA in 7,637 U.S. stores for the week of March 1st with an average price of $2.48 per pound. That compares 8,186 stores promoting red seedless grapes a year ago at an average price of $3.07 per pound.
Organic fresh produce is booming despite total grocery store dollar growth may have climbed only two percent in the last year.
The Organic Produce Network (OPN) and Nielsen, have released new data showing organic produce sales have set new records, totaling $5.6 billion in 2018, far exceeding the status quo. And the year ended on a particularly high note as sales soared 13 percent the final week of the year.
The OPN notes it is particularly interesting is an impressive two-thirds of all produce commodity groups increased organic sales year-over-year which indicates this is not an isolated incident. At the same time, organic growth occurred in these three categories despite a decline in conventional sales.
According to a press release, fresh produce represented 26 percent of total store organic sales, and a growth rate of 8.6 percent was on par with total store organic, suggesting a continued movement toward mainstream demand across product consumption.
In terms of absolute dollars, blueberries saw the greatest increase followed by prepackaged salads. Many popular organic categories exceeded $20 million in dollar growth—among them organic bananas, apples, and grapes.
“Although organic accounted for 10.1 percent of total produce sales, it’s driving a disproportionate amount of growth within the produce department,” said Matt Lally, Associate Director at Nielsen. “In total, 43 percent of total produce growth occurred from organic items which equates to an additional $450 million sold.”
OPN noted in its press release, organic isn’t a given recipe for success. Products like strawberries and tomatoes experienced far greater growth in the conventional offering, but a closer look reveals how important pricing is for these categories. Prices varied widely—ranging from $1.97 to $3.38 per pound between conventional and organic tomatoes and $2.26 to $4.26 for conventional and organic strawberries.
“When you compare this difference with commodities that experience a high organic growth rate such as grapes, the difference is striking,” noted Lally “Conventional grapes rang in at $2.18 per conventional pound compared to $2.94 per organic pound. Clearly there’s a strong connection between the growth of organic and the price premium with its conventional counterpart.”
In addition to room for growth in the strawberry and tomato category, onions, bell peppers, watermelon, and mandarins are all disproportionately under-represented in organic sales compared to the total produce average. And OPN noted that making organics widely available during key periods like summer holidays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas is a great way to reach more shoppers.
A new facility has been added by Del Rey Avocado Co. of Fallbrook, CA, that adds an additional 43,000 square feet of cold storage and ripening rooms to the company’s existing footprint in San Diego County. The new facility is located in Vista, CA.
The new Southern California facility comes following the company’s January 2017 expansion, when the company purchased a new facility in Vineland, N.J., according to a news release.
The new facility, according to the release, will serve customers in the Western U.S., in addition to imports from Mexico.
“Our growth and expansion would not be possible without the support of our customers and the tremendous relationships we enjoy with them,” Bob Lucy, president of Del Rey.
“In addition to our customers, our employees are the key to our growth and success. Not a day goes by that we don’t counting our blessing.”
Del Rey Avocado employs 85 full-time staff in its Southern California facilities.
“Opening a new facility has long been our goal and desire to streamline our operations, improve efficiencies and offer us an opportunity to be innovative in meeting the need of our customers,” Bob Siemer, chief agronomist/partner for the company, said in the release.
“The new Vista facility will also provide our growers many benefits as it will allow us to receive fruit faster and get products to market faster.”
Bee Sweet Citrus Inc. of Fowler, CA is now shipping its Star Ruby grapefruit from the Central San Joaquin Valley and will continue to do so for the next few months. Georgia carrot loadings from Grimmway Farms also has started.
“Every year, Star Ruby grapefruit continue to grow in popularity and take the produce industry by storm,” said Bee Sweet Citrus Sales Representative Joe Berberian. “This variety is less acidic than other grapefruit varieties and has many health benefits.”
Low in calories and a nutritional powerhouse, Star Ruby grapefruit is the reddest of all grapefruit varieties. An excellent source of vitamin C and fiber, one serving can provide you with over half the recommended daily intake of vitamin C and can also help promote a healthy digestive system.
A grower, packer and shipper of California citrus, Bee Sweet Citrus was founded in 1987. It is a family owned and operated company, and ships over 15 different varieties of citrus.
Georgia Carrot Shipments
Grimmway Farms, headquartered in Bakersfield, CA, who is the world’s largest producer of carrots, has activated its Sparks, GA carrot packing facility and will be providing regional shipments through mid-May.
The company is offering conventional cello and jumbo carrots grown in the Southeast and packed under the Grimmway Farms, Bunny Luv and Premier labels.
“Sourcing carrots from our Sparks, GA facility is a great option for customers and distribution centers in the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest,” says Mike Anspach, Vice President of Sales at Grimmway Farms.
Grimmway is loading carrots from the Southeast facility Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m . (EST) by appointment only. To book a loading appointment, please call 1-866-328-6867.
About Grimmway Farms
Family-owned and headquartered in Bakersfield, California, Grimmway Farms traces its roots to a produce stand opened by the Grimm brothers in the early 1960s. Grimmway is a global produce leader and the world’s largest producer of carrots. Grimmway supplies more than 65 organic, USA-grown crops and brands include Cal-Organic Farms and Bunny-Luv.
A small increase in Mexican citrus shipments to the U.S. is expected this year, a new report predicts. Nearly all of Mexico’s fresh oranges are exported to the U.S., originating from Sonora.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report said Mexican fresh orange and lime production is forecast to continue to grow for marketing year 2018-19.
According to the report, growers in the northern states of Mexico have said that fresh fruit exports to the U.S. for processing purposes have increased due to the decrease in Florida orange production.
The report forecasts that Mexican fresh orange exports will increase slightly to 78,000 metric tons in marketing year 2018-19.
Nearly all fresh orange exports go to the U.S., and most oranges exported to the U.S. are navel oranges grown in Sonora, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the report said Mexican Persian and key lime exports for 2018-19 are expected to be strong and are pegged at 725,000 metric tons.
The spring Persian lime harvest begins in early April, the report said. Depending on prices, the Persian limes are typically shipped to European markets before being shipped to the U.S.
Lime exporters continue to expand into the European and Japanese markets, but still supply about 40 percent of the U.S. and Canadian markets.
International prices for Persian limes began at U.S. $16 to $18 per 40-pound box in October and November; prices during April and May 2018 were as high as $63 per box, the report said.
Mexican grapefruit exports are projected at 20,000 metric tons, with strong European prices pulling volume there over the U.S. market.
Mexican produce crossing at Nogales, AZ, grossing about $3400 to Chicago.
(Sacramento) – Once again, tests showed that the vast majority of fresh produce collected by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) met national pesticide residue standards. During its 2017 survey, DPR found 96 percent of all samples had no detectable pesticide residues or were below levels allowed by the U.S. EPA.
The findings are included in DPR’s just released 2017 Pesticide Residues in Fresh Produce report.
“DPR carries out extensive sampling of pesticides on fresh produce, and once again it shows that California consumers can be confident about eating fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Brian Leahy, Director of DPR. “California growers and farmers are adept at following our comprehensive rules to ensure produce is grown to the highest pesticide standards.”
The 2017 report is based on year-round collection of 3695 samples of produce, from 28 different countries, including those labeled as “organic.” DPR scientists sampled produce from various grocery stores, farmers’ markets, food distribution centers, and other outlets throughout California. The produce is tested for more than 400 types of pesticides using state of the art equipment operated by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) sets levels for the maximum amounts of pesticide residue that can be present on fruits and vegetables, called a “tolerance.” It is a violation if any residue exceeds the tolerance for the specific fruit or vegetable, or if a pesticide is detected for which no tolerance has been established.
California Specific Results
More than a third of the country’s fruits and vegetables are grown in California according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). In 2017 DPR found:
- About 25 per cent of all produce samples tested were labeled as Californian-grown,
- About 95 per cent of these samples had no residues on them or were within the legal levels,
- About 5 per cent of California samples had illegal residues, including kale and snow peas. These are pesticide residues in excess of the established tolerance or had illegal traces of pesticides that were not approved for that commodity. However, none of those residues were at a level that would pose a health risk to consumers.
Other highlights from the 2017 report include:
- 41 percent of all produce samples had no detectable residues at all,
- 55 percent had residues detected within the legal level.
- 4 percent of all the samples had pesticide residues in excess of the established tolerance or had illegal traces of pesticides that were not approved for that commodity.