Posts Tagged “feature”
Alarming declines in Florida citrus shipments continue.
Florida grapefruit shipments are the lowest in at least three decades and down 300,000 cartons from the previous month’s report due to El Nino weather conditions and December temperatures in the mid 80s that cut production. Some growers plan to end grapefruit loadings by March, earlier than the typical May seasonal finish.
The latest Florida citrus forecast issued by the USDA has this season’s production for the state as 29 percent lighter than last season’s crop. The tangerine forecast improved, though production for that item is still expected to be less than that from the previous season.
Orange volume for the state of Florida is expected to reach 69 million boxes of fruit for the 2015-2016 season – that’s almost a third less than the 96.8 million boxes produced during the 2014-2015 season. The forecast is in line with a trend that has the state’s orange shipments decreasing over the last several years. Of the 69 million expected boxes, 33 million are expected to be Valencia oranges.
The forecast for tangerines was increased this month to an estimated 1.5 million boxes for the season. That’s a million more boxes than were forecast for the season last month. But even with the bump, production for the season is still expected to be significantly less than the 2.3 million boxes that were produced during the 2014-2015 season.
The roller coaster ride of Western desert lettuce volume has steadied in recent weeks. More consistent loading opportunities will hopefully continue the rest of the season from Yuma and the Imperial Valley.
Lettuce shipments should remain in good volume until around April 1st, before a seasonal decline ends the season by mid April. At this point lettuce shipments will shift to Huron, CA for about three weeks before heading into the Salinas spring season.
Yuma lettuce and other vegetables – grossing about $4700 to Atlanta.
Chilean Fruit Imports
Central Chile has recently had relative humidity levels not seen in many years, leading to further losses for table grape growers. Recent rains have resulted in losses of 30 percent for Flames (red grapes) and Superiors (green grapes) in the area. Three years ago when this happened there was a lof of rot with grapes.
Normally there would be humidity of 20-40 perecent, instead of 80 percent.
This means a large amount of fruit will not meet export standards for lacking quality standards.
Apple Shipments
About 75.3 million bushels of U.S.-grown fresh-market apples had yet to be shipped as of February 1, 21 percent less than last year at the same time.
The February total was also one percent lower than the five-year average, according to the February Market News report from the Vienna, Va.-based U.S. Apple Association.
Washington accounted for 64.9 million bushels of the February 1 apples remaining in storage. New York had 4.2 million bushels, Michigan 3.4 million bushels and Pennsylvania 1.1 million bushels.
Yakima Valley apples – grossing about $3700 to Chicago.
California strawberry shipments are down this season about 40 percent compared to this time a year ago.
But the West Coast isn’t alone with lower volume on strawberries. Some are calling Florida’s strawberry season a crop failure. Florida strawberry shipments are down 50 percent, while Mexico is off by one-third.
Strawberries shipments are typically big for Valentine’s Day (which was February 14). This next big push is for Easter, which arrives early this year, March 27th. Although California strawberry shipments should increase for Easter, loadings are still expected to be well below normal.
Mexican strawberry shipments are also increasing. During the week of January 18-22 Mexico was averaging 160,000 to 180,000 trays. The following week there was at least 20 percent.
Above average rainfall in California from El Nino is expected to last into April, which could continue to make increases in strawberry volume a challenge.
A trend that is now adversely affecting early season shipments the past few years has been the shifting of strawberry field acreage away from Ventura County in Southern California, which is the earliest shipping district. Oxnard (Ventura County) has just over 6,800 acres of strawberries. That compares to the 10,300 acres planted just three years ago. Most of the grower/shippers have planted more strawberries in the Santa Maria district over the last few years, which is further north along the California coast.
The reason for the acreage shift relates to the varieties of the fruit. Oxnard needs a good short-day strawberry variety and there aren’t any good ones right now. Growers simply are not getting the yields in Oxnard.
So many fields of new almond trees have been planted in Central California in recent years that production has reached a point where prices are beginning to slide.
Almonds have taken an image hit in the last few years in part due to publicity about how much water in drought stricken California is needed to produce a crop. A gradual loss in value has been taking place.
The price per pound of the nut has declined about 20 percent since late 2014.
That 20 percent price decline due to over supply translates into a loss of about $1.8 billion to farmers. A lot of new almond trees have been planted over the last three years.
When the price of almonds rose from around $2.50 per pound three years ago to over $4 per pound in 2014, farmers became over zealous and many replaced their lower-priced crops, like grapes or cotton, with fields of almonds. That flooded the market, and the price dropped to around $3 per pound.
Adding to the problem was the strength of the dollar in 2015. It began to cost more for places like China and India to buy almonds. In turn, Asian markets are shelling out less cash for the crop.
It killed off demand as fewer almonds were purchased.
Potatoes remain a staple in the American diet, wpotatoes account for 15 percent of all consumed vegetables.
Imports of Chilean blueberries and stone fruit to the US are returning to seasonally normal volumes following a slow start.
Exports to the U.S. were close to their peak in the first half of February, with over 6,000 tons of Chilean blueberries shipped to the U.S. the last week of January. This was a new high. So the gap between this season’s volume and last year’s has rapidly diminished. Through early February, Chilean shipments to North America were down only 2 percent.
Chilean Stone Fruit
The Chilean stonefruit season also got off to a slow start, and the effects from that have rippled throughout the season due to weather issues. Fewer boats transporting Chilean nectarines and peaches have been arriving in the U.S., and their arrivals have been spaced out further than usual.
Now the challenges are more logistical than weather related as the volume of grapes is overtaking some of the stonefruit.
A couple of ships containing peaches and nectarines from Chile were supposed to arrive last week in Southern California. The second ship, scheduled to arrive at the end of the week, had its stonefruit cargo bumped to a later trip. So, instead of waiting three or four days between stonefruit arrivals, importers will have to wait about 10 days for the next shipment.
Port of Long Beach Chilean imports and Southern California citrus – grossing about $3500 to Dallas.
Nogales, Ariz. – For the 2014-15 shipping season, a produce association in Nogales has reported a total volume of 5.9 billion pounds of fresh produce crossed the border from Mexico. That is the equivalent of 147,500 truck loads weighing 40,000 pounds each.
Ten commodities made up 5.28 billion pounds of that total, with tomatoes and watermelon leading the way through Nogales in 2014-15. About 1.12 billion pounds of tomatoes came through Nogales last season, up from 1.19 billion pounds in 2013-14. Watermelon imports jumped from 1.03 billion to 1.11 billion pounds.
The next eight commodities, by volume, in 2014-15 were cucumbers, squash, bell peppers, grapes, mangoes, chili peppers, melons and eggplant.
Tomatoes, squash and eggplant were the only top ten commodities to see volume declines from 2013-14 to 2014-15.
More than 50 Mexican-grown fruits and vegetables are imported through Nogales.
By volume, tomatoes remain the number one produce item imported through Nogales, but watermelon imports have risen dramatically in recent years, and in the past season watermelon imports almost caught up to tomatoes, according to The Nogales Produce Import Report 2014-15.
The report offers an analysis and comparison of three seasons of fresh produce’s imports through Nogales in volume as well as value as reported to U.S. Customs.
“It is a tool we have developed to help our members understand the overall picture of fresh produce imports and see what their participation in the industry may be. It also may help them understand the tendencies and detect opportunities to explore,” said Lance Jungmeyer, president of Fresh Produce Association of the Americas in a press release.
FPAA created the report, which also includes data from 2012-13, to help its members understand the overall picture of fresh produce imports, Jungmeyer said in the release.
Mexican produce crossing at Nogales – grossing about $3400 to Chicago.
We have become a fiscally irresponsible country. It is immoral to mooch off of other people, let alone mooch off of future generations that have not even been born yet, through government handouts.
They are truly defenseless. These left wing idiots coupled with the new “mooching generation” of voters will soon destroy the country that our ancestors gave their lives to build, defend, and cherish.
And most of us that take personal responsibility for our lives can only sit back and watch. Why, because we are now the minority. Recently the top communist bozo running for office, Bernie Sanders, said that it would be cheaper to pay for college than put them in jail. So in his very small and little mind if you don’t go to college, then you end up in jail. I guess the effects of large marijuana consumption are finally taking a toll on him.
Maybe we should change The Pledge of Allegiance to…” I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Moochers of America. And to the entitlements for which we stand, one nation under massive debt, divided by class and envy, with overburdening taxes for all.”
The sad part is that this country was founded by people trying to escape an overburdening government. They moved to a new land where they could live free and experience life by following their own pathway. I know there will not be many liberals who will read the words on this page, but for those who do, I beg you to stop and think about us all. In respect for them we should all consider this before casting our vote in November.
Larry Oscar is a graduate from the University of Tulsa and holds a degree in electrical engineering. He is retired and lives with his wife on a lake in Oklahoma where he brews his own beer, sails, and is a member of numerous clubs and organizations.
A very sophisticated crime ring or perhaps even several crime rings out of the Los Angeles area are stealing truckloads of California tree nuts, worth as much as $500,000, according to statements from the Agricultural Processors Association.
The Department of Transportation’s shipping database has been hacked by thieves, who obtain information from shipping and trucking companies’ Facebook pages so they can identify drivers, and they’re forging documents. This research makes them appear very legitimate when they come to pick up a load of almonds, pistachios, or walnuts.
Many times forged documents will include “burner” cell phone numbers. When a processor or shipper calls the number, they’re talking to one of the thieves posing as a legitimate driver, but by the time they realize the load has been stolen, that phone and number have been discarded without a trace.
In other instances, thieves pretend to be the nut processor and call the drivers who legitimately picked up loads. They tell the driver they discovered a problem with the load and ask him to drop it off at another facility for inspection. The driver does as he’s told, and three days later the company finds out the load never made it to its final destination.
In the rare instances where product has been found, it’s been in locations all across the country, and even in Eastern Europe. By then, it is too late to capture them.
Tree nut thefts have picked up in the last six months. Nuts have become very expensive, makng them a prime target. But a big part of the problem is that there’s little punishment for those responsible for committing crimes of this nature. In 2014, California passed Proposition 47, which classifies “non-serious, nonviolent crimes” as misdemeanors instead of felonies, as long as the defendant doesn’t have prior serious convictions.
Additionally, when an empty trailer is found in Los Angeles, the crime is considered to have taken place there. In Los Angeles, something like nut theft falls pretty low on the list of priorities when it comes to prosecuting criminals.
To make matter worse, insurance isn’t covering these thefts. Because the criminals are picking up the loads illegitimately but without any violence, it’s considered the processor’s negligence. Specific policies have to be purchased for this type of theft.
Although all California-grown tree nuts have been targeted, pistachios have taken the biggest hit. One truckload can be worth as much as $500,000. Even cashews imported to California and processed in the state have been stolen.
Mandarins lead all citrus categories in dollar sales at retail and are up 17.3 percent, representing almost 37 percent of all citrus sales for the last year, according to recent IRI Worldwide data. Mandarins also lead in pound sales, up just over 19 percent.
“The rise in popularity of mandarins follows along with consumer demand for healthy, convenient snacks,” Joan Wickham, manager of advertising and public relations for Sunkist, said in a press release. “Easy to peel and high in Vitamin C, mandarins fit the bill for healthy snacking and they are also juicy, sweet and delicious.”
Sunkist offers retailers multiple packaging and point-of-sale options to help retailers merchandise mandarins to continue driving sales and educate consumers about specialty mandarins varieties.
“Providing flavor profiles, nutrition information, recipes and usage tips encourages consumers to experiment and enjoy mandarins in multiple ways,” Julie DeWolf, director of retail marketing, said in the release.
Mandarins are also trending in foodservice channels, with operators showcasing the versatility of easy-peelers in applications such as adult beverages, salads, desserts and seafood appetizers. Clementines have shown a particularly strong increase on menus, with a nearly 40 percent spike over the past year, driven mainly by increased use in beverages.
“Mandarins are great for snacking, but they’re also wonderful as an ingredient — and increasing foodservice usage across meal parts demonstrates this,” added Wickham.
Sunkist offers Satsuma, Clementine, Royal, W. Murcott and Gold Nugget mandarin varieties from late October through June with multiple packaging options, including the beloved Sunkist Smiles brand.