MARKET REPORT - OCT. 30Th 2015
First, thank you SOOOO…. much
for putting up with us this week as we moved from our MS system to totally new software – it’s been a huge learning curve and we’ve sacrificed flexibility for real time and more accurate information. Once we learn how to everything efficiently our goal is to be able to serve you better. In the meantime it has been a very demanding week, and we apologize for mis-pricing, funny looking invoices and frantic sales people. All will not be perfect, and although today’s price list will look different, we are hoping it’s going to be accurate. There are a few glitches we may not be able to fix today – so expect a few things to be out of order. Again, apologies and thanks for your patience this week.
Now, an abbreviated market report for you.Apple supply continues to be grand, although you will slowly see a switchover to Washington fruit as BC varieties sell through, or because of crop damage during the summer. Avocado supply is grand, and we’re more than happy to give you at least a month long special price if you are interested in a strong promotional product. Grapefruit pricing continues to drop as the first of the desert crop is starting harvest after a couple of months of very lean supply. On the other hand, the California grape season is quickly winding down a few weeks earlier than normal, and to the last varieties, which will also mean a price increase. Melons are now starting up in several locations, both on the coast of Sonora as well as inland in the Hermosillo area. I know the weather is conducive to high demand for picnic melons, but with very little seasonal fruit out there (like peaches, plums or mangos) we are always surprised by how strong melon sales can be this time of year.Oranges continue to be a struggle with Valencia’s exorbitant and the early Washington variety of Navel’s the only one being harvested, prices are steep and supply limited. That will all change very quickly with arrivals on other varieties of oranges, the early Mexican Desert Sweet Valencia’s just a week or two away, and our always impressive Mandarin program – and those are in stock as we speak.We’re just heading into Persimmon season, and the forecast is for a short season, but good size selection. Pomegranates are also in high demand right now and pricing seems to be fairly stable.Berries are a bit of a struggle right now, partially because of some infrastructure damage in some production areas in Mexico, and rain in southern California. You just can’t pick wet berries and expect them to be shippable!On the veg front, local season is winding down quickly. Not that there isn’t some crop in the field, but for most growers the list is shrinking and the volumes are low enough it isn’t worth harvesting. The transition to southern California has begun, and as expected pricing will wander substantially over the next few weeks with fields ending in the north, and starting in the south. The south means the huge production areas straddling the US/Mexico border – Imperial, Huron and Yuma.We expect our first shipment from Ecocampo to arrive late in the week, and will be on our mid-week update price list. We have substantially expanded our program from Gustavo Gaya this season, with several new items, including Napa, Brocollini, and all colours of Kale. We have our own harvest director working with Gustavo’s team this year, and we think you are going to be totally impressed with this program this year.Here is what the Napa cabbage looks like - you could have this on your shelf as early as next Saturday all going well.Pretty well all sub-tropicals are nearly done locally – expect all listings for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant to be California or Mexico from here on in except for local hot house production.Roots are in good shape with virtually everything local, except for turnips and rutabaga, which we just can’t seem to get enough of locally, no matter how hard we beg growers. Too many fields in BC are plagued by several varieties of below-ground critters and turnips and storage radishes are very susceptible, hence too risky a crop for most producers – those are low value crops in the first place, require a lot of water and management, and easily ruined by wireworms.Thank you!