Posts Tagged “vegetable shipments”
Here is an outlook for stone fruit shipments ranging from Georgia and South Carolina to California and Washington state. Also, are California vegetable shipments getting over the ups and downs caused by shipping gaps from the coastal areas?
Initial Georgia peach shipments from the Fort Valley area got underway the week of May 18th. With the arrival of June, Georgia peaches are now moving in good, steady volume. Shipments should continue most of the summer…..South Carolina peach shipments are on a similar schedule with a little more volume.….Meanwhile, California stone fruit moves into volume beginning in late June and continuing through July….Washington state stone fruit shipments will build in volume in August for peak peach shipments during September.
California vegetable shipments this spring have been anything but good and predictable for produce haulers. Is that about to change? Maybe, but don’t necessarily bet on it.
Hot weather in the early spring with shipments out of the desert areas and then the Huron District of the San Joaquin Valley, vegetables were maturing ahead of schedule. However, with the seasonal shift of California vegetables to the coastal areas, colder than normal weather has put harvest and shipments later than usual. It also has resulted in shipping gaps and lighter than normal volumes in many cases.
If you are planning on hauling strawberries and vegetables grown south of San Diego and across the border on the Baja pennisula, you probably will be better off going elsewhere.
Mexican strawberries and vegetables grown in Baja California are facing supply disruptions because of a strike by farm workers.
The extent of the effect on supplies remains unclear, but there are definately fewer loads available at San Diego area warehouses, which are distributors for the produce items destined for markets in much of North America. Losses on strawberries are reported to be substantial, causing millions of dollars in losses.
The strike began March 17 in Baja’s San Quintin valley, where workers are seeking an increase on current eight-hour pay from the U.S. $7.94 to $8.60 range to about $19.84, or 300 pesos. San Quintin is 118 miles south of Ensenada.
Strawberry shipments crossing the border through the Otay Mesa district in the San Diego area have been very low. About 27 percent of Mexico’s strawberry harvest comes from Baja California. Vegetable shipments from other crops produced there include tomatoes, green onions, squash, carrots, peas and broccoli.
Meanwhile, until the labor issues are resolved produce truckers should have better luck obtaining loads with Southern California avocados, or perhaps various berries and vegetables out of Ventura County.
Oxnard (Ventura County) lettuce, cabbage, celery and berries – grossing about $4800 to Chicago.
Vegetable shipments are typically down this time of the year, but it will be even lighter than normal the remainder the year for many items.Although the Yuma area in Arizona is experiencing warmer weather, there have been plenty of cold spells and morning frost. Thus, it will take a while for Yuma vegetable shipments to rebound.
Oxnard will probably be the main supplier on celery going into Christmas.
Celery shipments will most likely be light through the New Year and into January. As a result, there will be a later start for harvest, probably after Christmas in the desert.
Cauliflower is in a similar situation. It was to start in the desert the week of Thanksgiving, but the pace is more of a crawl than a sprint.
A similar situation is found as well with various with head lettuce, romaine, and other lettuces. Head lettuce is averaging around 1200 truck loads per week, but volume really drops off for other desert items ranging from broccoli to cauliflower, celery, escarole-endive and greens.
If winter weather cooperates, there should be a significant increase in desert vegetable shipments after the New Year. The same can be said for winter produce shipments from Mexico crossing through Nogales.
California and Arizona desert veggies – grossing about $4000 to Chicago and $7300 to New York City.
California grape shipments should remain in good volume, providing steady loading opportunities through the end of the year. Meanwhile, the state’s citrus shipments will be picking up soon, while vegetable loadings will be limited as volume gradually shifts to the the desert areas.
Grape shipments at this point in the season are right on the heels of last year’s record loadings of 116 million, 19-pound boxes. If this year’s grape shipments don’t break last year’s volume, at the least it will be the second largest on record. About 70 percent of the total crop has been shipped .
Citrus Shipments
It is estimated California will ship 81 million, 40-pound cartons of navel oranges this season. Of that total, 78 million cartons will be shipped from California’s Central San Joaquin Valley. Shipments are modest, but will be increasing in the weeks ahead.
Mandrian orange shipments are also on the rise, with greater volume than a year ago being forecast.
Vegetable shipments
Salinas vegetables ranging from broccoli to cauliflower, among others, will be shifting from the Salinas Valley to the desert areas. The shift to California’s Imperial Valley and the Yuma District in Arizona will be taking place around the third to fourth week of November. Head lettuce from the Huron District is winding down and also will be shifting the desert areas.
Central San Joaquin Valley grapes and other fruit – grossing about $7100 to New York City.
Volume is headed upwards from coastal areas for California vegetable shipments, as well as stone fruit out of the San Joaquin Valley. We’ll take a look at both, with a note to be on the look out for some quality issues in both regions.
Vegetable Shipments
There are strong shipments of vegetables coming out of the Santa Maria and Salinas valleys, although we’re not boasting of any bumper crops. Temperatures in both valleys recently topped 90 degrees. When loading, just keep an eye out for what’s going onto the truck in case there are issues with tip burn on some of the leafy items. Also make sure the receiver is aware of any problems, if a problem develops.
At the same time, the heat could bring on some fields faster, which would increase shipments.
Avocado Shipments
California’s avocado crop, which is currently in full production, has been estimated at less than 60 percent of the volume of last year’s 500 million pounds.
Stone Fruit Shipments
California has recently been shipping in very light volume of stone fruit from the Coachella Valley and the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Now it’s time for the main varieties and product in the primary SJV production areas to get cranked up. Volume is expected to be about normal. While peaches and nectarine quality seems to be pretty good, use caution loading apricots and plums until we get a better feel for quality. Just reading between the lines of shipper comments leads one to suspect potential quality issues due to weather factors. In general, stone fruit shipments are about 10 to 14 days earlier than normal, which means there will be good volume loadings in time for arrivals at destination for the Memorial weekend of May 24-26.
Salinas Valley vegetables – grossing about $7500 to New York City.
California desert produce shipments are early this year with everything from grapes to vegetables.
Grape loadings from the Coachella Valley got underway with very light volume about a week ago, which is about two weeks earlier than normal. This will probaby result in the season ending around July 1st, instead of mid July. Coachella typically ships about 6 million boxes of grapes each year. Likewise, the Arvin district (Bakersfield area) also is early this year and is expected to get underway in the last week of June, instead of around the Fourth of July.
Vegetable Shipments
Some shippers see this as a banner year for desert vegetables.
In the Coachella Valley, early starts are occuring with vegetables. Decent supplies are already underway. Peak desert vegetable shipments should hit around Memorial Day, with good volume still happening for the Fourth of July, with items ranging from sweet white, yellow and multi-colored corn to watermelons and peppers. Pepper loading should continue through June, with corn and melons finishing up after Memorial Day.
Imperial Valley Onion Shipments
Anticipating start dates for harvest in truckload volumes range from April 21 to May 1, although some early harvesting had already begun as of the second week of April.
The Imperial Valley, one of California’s major onion growing districts and the earliest to harvest, is located at the southern tip of California, about 130 miles inland from San Diego.
The total acreage planted with onions in the Imperial Valley in 2012, the most recent year for which final data are available, was around 8,500 acres. Roughly half of the production grown is for the fresh or fresh-cut market and a similar amount for processing.
Blueberry Shipments
Initial shipments of California blueberries got underway a couple of weeks ago from the Central San Joaquin Valley.
The state ranks 5th in shipments with about 54 million pounds, which is similar to a year ago. Loadings should peak in mid-May and continue through mid-June.
San Joaquin Valley carrots, blueberries and other produce – grossing about $7600 to New York City.
The Salinas Valley is shipping alot of mixed vegetables and generally receives most of the attention, however there are veggie loadings taking place just to south in Santa Maria. As with other coastal regions in the state, Santa Maria vegetable shipments got started nearly two weeks earlier than normal.
Items available for hauling range from leaf lettuce to romaine and broccoli, the latter which is shipped from here year around. Just becoming available now is celery. In all, while Santa Maria lacks the volume of Salinas, it still ships over 70 speciality vegetables, baby lettuce and speciality greens all year long.
California Grape Shipments
It also looks like California grape shipments will be early as well. The Coachella Valley should get going within a few days of the Mexican grapes — by early May. Coachella typically ships grapes out of the desert for a month or so. This will be followed by the Arvin District in the Southern San Joaquin Valley.
Cherry Shipments
Intial predictions call for California to ship between 2.5 and 3 million trays of cherries this season. This would be considered a decent sized crop, but certainly not a bumper crop. The early cherry deal in the southern and central San Joaquin Valley of California will have an earlier start than usual this year, by as much as two weeks
While initial shipments are expected the last week of April, peak loadings in the southern SJV are expected between May 5 – 19. Northern valley cherry loadings should occur around May 27 to the middle of June.
For the first time, moderate volume shipments of cherries were expected to be shipped in time for Mother’s Day (May 11th).
The early season cherries from the southern San Joquin Valley are expected to have lighter volume, while more normal shipments are expected from the northern valley areas from the later varieties.
San Joaquin Valley vegetables – grossing about $7800 to New York City.
Tropical storm Manuel hit Western Mexico the week of September 15th, killing dozens and bringing extensive damage to growing areas around Culiacan, a major growing area for tomatoes, squash and many other produce commodities shipped to the USA during the late fall, winter and early spring seasons.
More than 350,000 acres of crops were damaged by the storm, mostly due to heavy rains ranging from around eight inches to 15 inches.
This is expected to hurt loading opportunities for Thanksgiving green beans and other products in the Los Mochis area of northern Sonora. Some loadings that would have started in early November will not be ready until late November. Squash, cucumbers and eggplant were among the crops most heavily affected.
A majority of these Mexician produce items cross the border at Nogales, AZ.
Salinas Valley Vegetable Shipments
Moderate amounts of vegetables continue to be shipped from California’s Salinas Valley, led by head lettuce, romaine lettuce, then celery, broccoli and cauliflower. These items also are being shipped in smaller volumes from the Santa Maria district to the south of Salinas.
Moderate shipments of strawberries also continue from the Watsonsville district, as well as from Santa Maria.
Salinas Valley vegetables and berries – grossing about $7400 to New York City.
The Salinas Valley remains one of the most active areas for produce shipments in the nation, not to mention the world. In the adjacent Watsonville district, strawberry shipments are averaging nearly 1,000 truck loads per week. This doesn’t include other berries and artichokes from this area.
California strawberry shippers are optimistic about a strong fall, unless of course, something like fall rains put a damper on loadings. Shipments to date are on track for yet another record-volume year. In 2012, California shipper over 190 million trays of strawberries.
Salinas Vegetable Shipments
While overall Salinas Valley vegetable shipments have been okay, it sure hasn’t been a “barn burning” year for loads. Whether it is lettuce, broccoli or cauliflower, which normal lead the pack of veggies when it comes to volume, none have been excetionally heavy.
This a a primary reason produce rates out of California have been anything but steller for this time of the year.
But keep in mind, even though California hasn’t been exceptional this summer, it still easily beats any other shipping area in country for the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables it ships. This holds true not only for the Salina Valley, but the San Joaquin Valley.
Salinas Valley vegetables and berries – grossing about $7900 to New York City.
San Joaquin Valley stone fruit, grapes, veggies – about $5300 to Chicago.
When the Fourth of July falls during the week, there’s no telling what may happen regarding refrigerated truck demand. Demand will be big – but how big? How big a factor will heat damage be to produce loads?
So many factors play into it. A significant factor, for example, in California’s Coachella and San Joaquin Valleys could the scortching temperatures. Coachella grapes and San Joaquin Valley stone fruit could develop quality problems. While temperatures are supposed to cool some over the long 4th of July holiday, triple digits were common this past weekend. So just be extra careful loading produce items that have been subjected to heat.
Washington state apricot shipments have joined other summer fruits such as cherries, peaches and blueberries. Loadings for apricots should continue through July.
Washington blueberries are in peak volume through July, with shipments continuing into October.
New York State
New York state ranks fifth in the nation for vegetable shipments and second with apples. Vegetable loadings will be cranking up in July from many parts of this huge state…..A big time rebound is being forecast for New York apples this season, which will get underway in August. Last season’s shipments were drastically cut due to weather factors.
Michigan
About 104 million pounds of Michigan blueberry shipments could wind up being the end-of-season total, up from 87 million pounds last year and the biggest since 2010’s total of 107 million pounds.
North American growers are expected to ship about 380 million pounds of fresh-market blueberries in 2013, up from about 330 million pounds in 2012.
Fresh blueberries loadings are expected to make up about 55% of U.S. blueberry production in 2013.
East Coast
North Carolina is shipping blueberries, South Carolina is loading peaches, while Georgia has everything from Fort Valley peaches, to Vidalia onions and a good variety of vegetables from the Southern part of the state.
California
Shipments and demand for refrigerated equipment can get pretty funky during the week when a holiday such as the Fourth of July falls on a week day. Produce buyers are already ordering post holiday fruits and veggies for deliveries to restock. Some eastbound coast-to-coast loads could concievably hit $10,000, but that’s simply a guess. You can bet $9000-plus is a good bet.