Market Report - Jan 1ST, 2016
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We’re hoping 2016 will be THE YEAR – for whatever your hopes and dreams are for the upcoming year. We have our wish list for sure! We’re hoping for no port strikes and continuous good supply of Fairtrade bananas. We’re hoping all our mango containers arrive on schedule; that the fruit is as lovely as always and we will have a great season, and a great return back to our growers in Peru. We’re hoping for the continued success of all the programs we are running with small producers will continue to flourish and we will continue the slow process of building more relationships in Latin America with small producers, allowing them access to the commercial marketplace and much better incomes. We’re also hoping that BC growers have another successful year, and that climate change impacts are few and far between. We’re hoping we can continue to do a better and better job on the strengths we offer you as our customers - good sales support, good quality produce, on-time delivery and as few shorts as possible.
We will continue to try to give you comprehensive market reports every few days not just so you better understand price and supply issues for your own information, but also for your staff on the front lines talking to consumers. We are in interesting times – the organic market is changing as it grows, and your store, like hundreds of other natural food stores drove this market to be what it was by providing good information to your customers – believers and non-believers alike. You drove the market for Fair Trade as well – informing consumers why supporting small producers was not just a noble idea, but a reality that has changed the lives of millions of small-holders across the Global South. We hope we can continue that journey together – making little changes to the way at least our supply chain works.Just yesterday we received a call from a group of small producers in Jalisco who want to work with us – they just spent 2 years growing Brussels Sprouts for a very wealthy company in northern Mexico – who have been making a fortune off these growers backs, who have been paid, (and although it comes as no shock to me, having seen this hundreds of times, it may shock you) just 4 pesos per kg. – which works out to 14c per pound, or $1.40 for a 10 pound box. It’s those calls that motivate us.As for what’s upcoming this next week, you will see some substantial price changes on some commodities, as the market adjusts, grower by grower, to the reality of a very strong El Nino event which is having grave impacts on farming across California and Mexico. Once again, ground frosts hit many regions of southern California, and if some areas missed the bullet, temperatures are continuously much colder than normal from here south to Mazatlan and inland through all the desert valleys. We will give you a more comprehensive report next Wednesday on that. Currency differences have also caught up with us, and we have had to make some small changes to some items – the major one being bananas. Just 3 years ago our price was $6 cheaper than today, but we are paying growers $2.50 more, paying steamship lines $2.50 more per box, and the Canadian dollar difference since then has accounted for a 43% increase on all those costs – an over-all change of $11.00. As you can see, our price increases over the years haven’t matched the increases we have seen, so we have to make another small incremental change effective Sunday, and, for your information, you will still be paying $4 less per box than if your store was buying bananas from wholesalers in Seattle, Portland or San Francisco.Once again, thanks for another great year – we so appreciate all our relationships with you guys and your continuing support, and a great 2016 to all of you!