Posts Tagged “feature”
In Consumer Reports’ new supermarket survey, Wegmans, Publix and Trader Joe’s remain at the top of the ratings of 68 of stores nationwide. Also earning high overall satisfaction scores were Fareway Stores, Market Basket (Northeast), Costco and Raley’s. Once again Walmart Supercenter landed at the bottom, along with A&P and Waldbaums, two smaller regional chains.
“Once upon a time, low prices, checkout speed and variety were attributes that mattered most to supermarket shoppers,” Tod Marks, senior project editor at Consumer Reports, said in a press release. “While these aspects are still critical, more and more consumers demand better fresh foods, more organics and a greater variety of locally made and grown foods.”
Many Americans believe that good health starts with a good diet. As a result, consumers have become increasingly savvy label readers, wary of preservatives, chemicals and unpronounceable ingredients and the demand for minimally processed foods and shorter ingredients lists has risen significantly. And supermarkets are taking seriously their new role in the health of their customers. Consumer Reports found that 95 percent of chains have a registered dietician on staff to assist with merchandising and marketing decisions. And, more than 75 percent of stores say they carry more locally grown or made goods than they did in 2012.
The report, “America’s Best, Freshest Supermarkets,” which includes the complete Ratings of grocery stores, is available in the May 2015 issue of Consumer Reports and at www.ConsumerReports.org. The feature also decodes common terms such as “fresh,” “natural” and more.
Consumer Reports National Research Center surveyed 62,917 subscribers about overall satisfaction with their supermarket shopping experiences based on 111,208 visits between March 2013 and July 2014. The top-rated supermarkets also received high scores for overall freshness — quality of produce, meats, poultry, bakery items and store-prepared foods as well as store quality, which included scores for staff courtesy and store cleanliness. Walmart Supercenter, consistently one of Consumer Reports’ lowest-rated grocers since 2005, earned low marks in every category other than price.
In addition to traditional characteristics such as service and cleanliness, Consumer Reports asked subscribers to rate their grocers on the selection of local produce and the price of organics at their stores. Only around six in 10 were completely or very satisfied with the quality of their store’s produce, meat, and poultry offerings, according to Consumer Reports’ survey.
Just three of the chains — Wegmans and national chains The Fresh Market and Whole Foods — earned stellar produce scores. Seventeen were below average. Eighteen retailers received low scores for produce variety, notably two big warehouse clubs — Sam’s Club (part of Walmart) and BJ’s Wholesale Club (in the East) — as well as Target and Target Supercenters.
Consumer Reports also asked subscribers about the prices of organic options available at their stores: Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, Costco, and Sprouts Farmers Market received high marks. And, to determine the real-world price differences, Consumer Reports conducted a study by shopping for 15 similar organic and conventional goods, including bananas, milk, and chicken, at eight national, regional and online grocers. The organic items cost 47 percent more, on average, although in some cases, some of the organic versions cost the same or less than the conventional ones. For example, organic Grade A maple syrup cost 11 percent less than the conventional version at Price Chopper.
In the Northwest, sweet onion shipments get underway within a few weeks. Meanwhile, plenty of Washington apples remain in storage for shipping.
Walla Walla Sweet onions from Washington state will begin shipments in mid-June and running into August. Growing conditions have been good this spring and the onions are sizing up well. The crop is trending heavily to jumbos and colossal.
Apple Shipments
However, the big mover remains with Washington state apple shipments, even though we are entering the last leg of the season before new crops start coming on in August. About 45 million bushels of U.S.-grown fresh market apples had yet to be shipped as of May 1, 28% more than last year at the same time.
The May total also was 38% higher than the five-year average, according to the May Market News report from the Vienna, Va.-based U.S. Apple Association.
Washington accounted for 40.9 million bushels of apples still in storage on May 1. New York had 1.45 million bushels, Michigan 1.24 million bushels and Pennsylvania 555,000 bushels.
Holdings of almost all major varieties were up from last year. Red delicious holdings increased from 13.6 million to 18 million bushels; galas from 4.2 million to 6.9 million bushels; golden delicious from 4.2 million to 5 million bushels; fuji from 3.3 million to 4.3 million bushels; Pink Lady from 913,000 to 1.4 million bushels; and Honeycrisp from 71,000 to 306,000 bushels.
Granny smith holdings fell slightly, from 5.41 million to 5.4 million bushels.
Yakima Valley apples and pears – grossing about $4500 to Chicago.
Mexican table grapes ramp up crossing the border in Arizona, while the Florida heat is starting to take its toll on spring produce shipments.
Mexican grape shipments are forecast to hit 16.05 million boxes this season, slightly less than last year’s final total of 16.27 million boxes. Peak shipments, mostly crossing the border at Nogales, are now in progress. Heavy volume should continue well into June before loadings decline towards the latter part of the month with the end of the season. Overall Mexican produce movement through Nogales is well below what it was in the first quarter of the year, with grapes now leading the pack in volume.
Mexican grapes – grossing about $2200 to San Francisco.
Florida
Florida produce shipments are starting to feel the heat as temperatures rise in the Sunshine State. There’s probably no better example than with sweet corn as shipments could come to a screeching halt this week. That is about two weeks earlier than the last two years.
Since the first week of April, the start of Florida’s spring shipments, packinghouses shipped about a million crates a week and so far have packed 6.2 million crates. This season, shippers should load about 7.5 million crates, similar to last season, which marked record production for the two weeks leading up to Memorial Day,
While Florida corn in coming to an end, Georgia sweet corn shipments are now underway.
Florida trucks have been in tight supply with mixed vegetables, tomatoes and watermelons – grossing about $3700 to Philadelphia.
Cantaloupe shipments are shifting from Mexico to California and Arizona, while South American clementines will be arriving at US ports soon.
Desert cantaloupe shipments started in late April from Brawley, Calif., and from Yuma, Ariz. the first week of May. There also should be more loading opportunities with melons this season due to increased acreage and higher yields.
Yuma cantaloupe shipments have gotten one of its earliest starts, by 10 days to two weeks. A typical start date in recent years has been closer to May 20-25. Cantaloupe shipments from both from Yuma and Brawley should continue into late June.
Cantaloupe shipments from the Maricopa, AZ area are expected to kick off around May 18 and while the Westside district in the San Joaquin Valley of California should start around the 4th of July.
Imperial Valley cantaloupes and Coachella Valley vegetables and grapes – grossing about $4600 to Chicago.
Chilean Clementine Imports
The Chilean citrus industry has kicked off with the year’s first shipment of clementines to the U.S. market. Exports began recently with the shipping of about 170 tons aboard the ship MSC Federica from Valparaiso. Six containers are headed to the port of Philadelphia, and two containers are destined for Long Beach. The first Chilean clementines will reach the U.S. market any day now.
Chile starts harvesting clementines in northern Chile in late April, and then continues moving south, with late-season Mandarins harvested into September. Chile’s total clementine volume has grown by 50 percent between 2010 and 2014, with more than 50 percent of U.S. easy peeler imports between May and October coming from Chile.
The trucking industry brought in $700.4 billion in revenue in 2014, according to a report released this week by the American Trucking Associations. That’s the highest total revenue in history for the industry and the first time trucking has surpassed the $700 billion mark, ATA says.
The combination of a significant jump in freight volume in the year and tightening capacity spurred the revenue uptick, says ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello.
ATA’s report,its annual American Trucking Trends, also showed the trucking industry moved 68.8 percent of all domestic freight, or 9.96 billion tons, in 2014.
And the $700.4 billion in revenue accounted for 80.3 percent of all freight transporation spending, ATA says.
Owner Operators/Independents
Owner-operators, led by independents and flatbedders, had a record year for net income, according to averages from ATBS, the nation’s largest owner-operator financial services provider. Leased operators and independents together cleared an average $56,167 during 2014. That’s 7 percent above the 2013 average, $52,406. Strong freight demand, a driver shortage and plunging diesel prices contributed to the increase.
The 2014 total “is $2,000 higher than we predicted and most of it comes from the fourth quarter fuel cost reduction,” says Todd Amen, ATBS president and CEO. “All segments had a really good year.” Net income for independents and flatbedders topped $60,000. Independents’ income showed the biggest gain over the year, 8.7 percent. Flatbed haulers, however, experienced virtually no change in income in 2014. That reflects flatbedders experiencing stronger demand and rates a few years before dry van and reefers haulers, says Gordon Klemp, head of the National Transportation Institute. NTI’s National Survey of Driver Wages tracks compensation of drivers at medium-size and large fleets. “Most of the independent contractors operating in the independent and flat markets are on percent of load type programs, so their pay adjusts quicker,” Amen says. “The independents are certainly more in the spot market as well. So these two segments reflect a really good freight market last year. They have higher highs in good times and lower lows in bad times, more volatile than the other segments.”
2014, net income for the groups tracked by ATBS was:
- Independents: $60,157
- Dry van: $54,490
- Flatbed: $60,510
- Reefer: $52,064
Klemp says falling fuel prices helped owner-operator earnings in two ways. One is owner-operators receiving less than a 100 percent fuel surcharge pass-through have seen their share of fuel costs dropping proportionately. The other is that because surcharges are adjusted weekly after the U.S. Department of Energy releases its average fuel prices, a surcharge will overcompensate an owner-operator as long as prices continue to fall during the week.
Sign-on bonuses have been stable in recent months, Klemp says. The mid-point is $3,000 to $6,000, with the top tier $6,500 or more. Team bonuses remain very strong, and he has seen them as high as $15,000. Many fleets use bonuses selectively by region, to meet demand, and often keep high bonuses in place only briefly.
Pazazz, a new apple variety will roll out nationally in 2016.
According to a recent article in Progressive Grocer, Minneapolis-based Honeybear Marketing has helped leading retailers across North America and Canada boost sales when seasonal apple sales typically slow sharply .
Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee has been a key retail participant in Honeybear’s varietal development program for the past three years. Bill Kelley, AVP and director of produce purchasing for the 235-store regional retailer, said that introducing new varieties is fundamental to Hy-Vee’s mission of bringing unique and healthy food items to their customers.
Kelly cites its “great color, firm texture and a burst of flavor that quickly brings customers back into the store for repeat purchases.”
Aside from Hy-Vee, Central Market, Cub Foods and Coborns have also created multi-tier Pazazz apple displays and sampling stations at premium front-of-store locations in order to increase consumer exposure to the new variety.
Pazazz is grown in Minnesota and Washington. Additional orchards in New York, Washington, Wisconsin and Nova Scotia, Canada will generate more volume to expand the scope of the Pazazz program. The variety was originally developed by Doug Shefelbine from Holman, WI;
Harvested shipped in late fall with a careful balance of sugars and starches, Pazazz is available from late December onward as the starches convert to sugars, which gives the apple a blend of high brix with a perfect complement of sweet and tart flavors, exceptional crispness and great texture.
Florida spring produce shipments overall have been pretty good. However, as we get closer to June volume typically declines on most items and just how long good loading opportunities continue depends in large part on when it becomes too hot for vegetables to grow.
In south Florida, watermelon shippers are finishing their season, which is overlapping the early- to mid-May start of central Florida watermelon shipments. Overall, Florida is shipping high volumes of watermelons and as we near the Memorial holiday weekend (May 23-25), approaching 1500 truck loads per week.
Central Florida should be loading large supplies through late May, while northern Florida shipments will soon start in light volume. North Florida typically overlaps Georgia’s typical early- to mid-June start with watermelons.
Georgia watermelon shipments should hit good volume around June 10-15, though southern Georgia regions near Adel, Ga., and Tifton, Ga., frequently start a week earlier.
Florida/Georgia Pepper Shipments
Florida pepper volume began improving in early May, while Georgia shippers were gearing up for a mid-May start.
South Florida peppers had some quality problems, primarily from colder weather, but those issues have mostly been resolved with the seasonal transfer of shipments originating out of Central Florida. Depending upon when summer heat starts taking its toll, Florida could be shipping peppers into mid June. Currently about 250 truck loads of peppers are being shipped out of Florida, which is relatively small compared to the 850 truck loads per week of sweet corn.
Meanwhile, Georgia pepper shipments should be hitting stride as we enter June.
Central Florida watermelons and vegetables – grossing about $3000 to Chicago.
Over the past decade an estimated 30 percent of stone fruit trees in California’s San Joaquin Valley have been yanked out of the ground. This has resulted in fewer stone fruit shipments for produce truckers.
Growers and shippers in many instances replaced the trees with other crops, primarily because they were flooding the market every year, resulting in lower prices.
California stone fruit shipments are underway and moving into good volume. You should also be aware that shipments will be heavier the first half of the shipping season for peaches, plums and nectarines. While all supplies will be lighter the last half of the season, plums will be in particular short supply. Stone fruit supplies will be best during May and June, but tailing off in July.
Produce growers tend to increase plantings as volume declines from year-to-year and prices for product increase. However, unlike potatoes and most other vegetables items it will take stone fruit growers at least five to 10 years to replace trees and have fruit bearing trees for higher shipments.
With California’s winter weather being one of the warmest on recent record this year, the state’s stone fruit shipments have been fluctuating more than normal.
San Joaquin Valley stone fruit – grossing about $4600 to Chicago.
Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $5400 to Atlanta.
Here’s a glimpse nationally at shipping areas such as Florida spring vegetables, potatoes from Arizona and looking ahead a few weeks to peaches from New Jersey, as well as with Mexican grapes.
Florida vegetable shipments are still moving in good volume and nothing is probably providing more loading opportunities than sweet corn. Big volumes are expected through the Memorial Day weekend, May 23-25. In recent weeks Florida sweet corn shipments have exceeded 1 million crates per week!…..After the holiday, Florida corn will be declining, but South Georgia will start shipping corn in late May with much bigger volumes in early June.
South Florida watermelons have been commanding the best trucks – grossing about $4000 to New York City. That’s about 25% more than rates for Florida red potatoes and nearly 20% more than Florida veggies.
Arizona Potato Shipments
Arizona red potato shipments kicked off about a week ago and now the yellow and mini potato varieties will get going any day now. Most of the potatoes are grown and shipped from an area South of Phoenix in the Casa Grande area.
Mexican Grape Shipments
Since there is still a lot of imported Chilean grapes in the distribution pipeline, some Mexican shippers have delayed shipments for a relatively short period of time. Grapes imported from Mexico are expected to be similar in volume to a year ago with a little over 16 million boxes. The 2014 crop finished at 16.2 million boxes.
New Jersey Peach Shipments
Looking ahead several weeks, New Jersey peach shipments will get underway in July and continue into September.
New Jersey is the fourth largest peach shipping state in the country, with approximately 80 orchards on 5,500 acres.
The California drought, which has prompted emergency conservation efforts in its fourth year, has forced California farmers to abandon thousands of acres or pay more to water them, according to a recent article in the Pittsburg Tribune-Review. Anxious grocers and restaurants are watching closely for impact on the supply and price of berries, walnuts, avocados, tomatoes and other pantry staples.
Over a fifth of all American farms growing fruit, tree nuts and vegetables are in California, according to the USDA. The Golden State grows more than 200 crops and is the nation’s dominant supplier of nuts and produce including grapes, olives, peaches, raspberries, strawberries and lemons.
Issues on the farms have not reached the produce aisle. Typically, increases in farm prices for fresh fruit and vegetables show up at the retail level a month later. But a confluence of factors have counterbalanced the price pressures from water scarcity, the Tribune-Review article states.
A complicated array of transportation and labor costs, the contracts that restaurants and supermarkets have with suppliers, market competition and macro economic trends are among the factors that determine the price of food. Only 19 cents of every dollar spent on food is tied to farm costs, said Annemarie Kuhns, a USDA economist.
Price inflation has been tamped down so far because the strength of the dollar against foreign currencies made foreign produce cheaper, Kuhns said. Low fuel prices has eased transportation costs.
That could change as fuel prices rebound and the drought extends further into the growing season. Water-intensive crops such as berries and nuts, where California holds an overwhelming share of the market, stand to be the most affected, said Timothy Richards, a business professor at Arizona State University.
“If we don’t have that supply from California during the season, then prices will run up,” he said.
California accounts for 86 percent of avocado production in the United States, and if unable to replace that supply with avocados from Mexico, it would have to raise menu prices.
Salinas Valley mixed vegetables – grossing about $4200 to Dallas, $7100 to New York City.