Posts Tagged “Thanksgiving produce shipments”

Thanksgiving Shipping Update: Normal Volume Depends Upon the Items

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001Normal Thanksgiving produce shipments are occurring for such favorites as sweet potatoes and cranberries, but green bean volume will be light.

North Carolina sweet potatoes shipments for the new crop got underway in mid August this year, a couple of week earlier than usual.  Fortunately, there was great weather for about six weeks that allowed harvesting to go pretty much uninterrupted.

It could have been a real disaster for North Carolina sweet potato shippers if Hurricane Joaquin hadn’t taken a right turn into the Atlantic.  Otherwise North Carolina may have been pounded with rains and flooding like South Carolina.

Eastern North Carolina sweet potatoes – grossing $3000 to Boston and Chicago.

Cranberry Shipments

Wisconsin continues to the be leading state for fresh cranberry shipments, with Tomah, Wis.-based Habelman Bros. Co., of Tomah, WI being the largest grower/shipper.  The Wisconsin cranberry harvest has been in full swing as it gears up for Thanksgiving shipments.

Green Bean Shipments

Green bean shipments for Thanksgiving out of the Southeast are expected to be very light due to heavy September rains.  Some bean shippers will be down as much as 60 percent compared to last year.  Excessive rains washed a lot of plantings out.  Green bean shipments are not expected to rebound until after Thanksgiving.

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Looking Ahead for Thanksgiving Produce Shipments

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DSCN4657Thanksgiving produce shipments  should be in good supply in the weeks ahead, with the exception of green beans.

Bean loadings will be about half of normal for the holidays this year due to excessive rains in the Belle Glade, Fla., growing area over the past two months.  Additionally,  other shipping areas are not expected to pick up much of the slack.   This time of year Northern Florida is too cool, while there are not as many growers in Homestead as there used to be.

Sweet Potato Shipments

The 2013 storage  sweet potato crop ended early, creating a strong demand and shipments right out of the gate for the new season.  However, it also resulted in a tremendous amount of sweet potatoes being shipped green early in the season.  That’s okay if the receiver is aware before what he is being delivered.  However,  Thanksgiving shipments of sweet potatoe should be another story, because North Carolina will have good-quality cured product in time  for the holidays.   Sweet potato shipments from North Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi and California should remain steady  into November, until shipments start picking up for Thanksgiving, which is November 27th.

Eastern North Carolina sweet potatoes – grossing about $3000 to Chicago.

Apple Shipments

The two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving are the biggest weeks of the year for granny smith shipments.    Granny smith loadings typically double in some cases because the apple variety is so popular in making pies and other baked goods for Thanksgiving.  However, the apple category as a whole typically dips in shipments running up to Thanksgiving, as consumers are focused more on their big meals and less on snacking.

Michigan apples – grossing about $4400 to Miami.

Washington apples – grossing about $7100 to New York City.

 

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