MARKET REPORT - APR 8TH, 2016
Here’s a bit of bad newsSo here I was talking about our new Ecuadorian Fairtrade banana coop ASOGUABO a few days ago. Unfortunately, in their wisdom, Canadian Border Services, seeing a new exporter in the system decided to do a port exam, and then once that passed, they have now decided to do a full de-stuff exam – which means that they actually unload the container and look for the stash. Well, being Friday that means early next week. So the bad news is that we are going to be in a total banana crunch for next week – and then of course we will have extra bananas – so look for some specials 10 days out. Sorry again!
Although this won’t make up for it, we have extra avocados – and some spectacular pricing until we’ve thinned down – so these prices are good until Wednesday only, but do take a look and plan a guacamole special – make everyone happy!Other notes on fruit: Lemons pricing continues to creep up, and limes have jumped substantially – that’s just a tight supply situation with a lot of fancy fruit getting hit by hail in Mexico – a subtle loss of 5% can drive prices up substantially, and as we have seen in the past, when lime prices hit certain levels, all of a sudden they become an interesting commodity for the same cartels whose hands stretch deeply into the avocado industry. Why? Well, if you have an expensive load on a tractor trailer, then there’s a much better chance of being hi-jacked – unless you pay a ‘security fee’ to limit that risk, and that gets built into pricing. I said that as subtly as possible. Man I love this world of produce – so many curve balls!Sorry, nothing much to report on the vegetable side except a note to watch your retails. One by one, green veg products are going to wind down in the desert, and with new crop availability ranging from huge to tight, you will see some instability - Black Kale and Napa Cabbage are the first two victims to tight supply. Watch for others to change over the next 8 weeks until we’re into local product.Final fast note: OriginO has just started tomato harvesting – yes on the list, no on supply – first come first served for next 10 days, then the flood gates will open and all will be good!