Buyer's Notes - January 7, 2022
Buyer’s Notes - January 7, 2022
Stefan Misse, Carter Selmes-Blythe, Brody Irvine, Jon Maheswaran, Randy Hooper - Discovery Organics
We are back with weekly updates, after a 6-week break. There are a few bits of info that are important regarding supply issues for the upcoming week!
Transportation and labour continue to wreak havoc. There is a shortage of trucks available in the U.S., not only trucks coming north to Canada, but trucks operating within the U.S. to move product from farms into the transportation hubs and cross-docks. The ongoing port congestion continues – something we’ve been dealing with for over a year. You will feel this the most with hit and miss supply on blueberries and mangos – currently both coming mainly from Peru, where the transit time into Vancouver is, well, let’s just say impossibly long, and into LA has increased from 18 days to 45. Importers in LA, where most of that product arrives are tearing their communal hair out, having no idea of the condition any fruit will be in once it arrives.
Ongoing labour shortages, whether day workers crossing the US border, shortage of seasonal workers, and a labour shortage across the economy in general are hurting both harvests and packing, whether here or in California. And of course Omicron is taking its toll equally across the world, and for essential workers, which includes fruit harvesters and people working on the line, the rule of course is that if you’re sick, get tested and stay at home. There will be more updates through the information from buyers below as well.
It has also been difficult if not traumatic for our own supply chain outbound to all our Interior customers with most of the major issues now resolved, but we still have our regular on-going winter issues with avalanche control, not only in the mountain passes to Alberta, but also today in BC with, at one point, both #5 closed for freezing rain and #3 for avalanche blasting after 2 feet of snow.
All this ugly weather over the past few days could have been worse. Here in the Lower Mainland we were perched above another major atmospheric river event that, this time, hit central and southern Washington, with 150mm of rain. Our northbound trucks were on hold for sometime until early Friday afternoon, as the I5 corridor was submerged near Chehalis.
Here’s an email from one of the largest organic citrus packers this morning as he cancelled a Navel pickup on us.
I would, but I don’t have any at this time. Our supplies are light as Omicron has hit our picking and packing crews hard. Can’t get what we need picked, can’t get what we need packed.
From Stefan:
Apples - Overall BC supplies are still strong with only Macs and Granny showing some low inventory levels. Ambrosias are still the Go-To for sales beating all other apples by a longshot in customer preference.
Berries – Strawberries have been rained out in California and northern Mexico - and we wont see any for a week at least. Blueberries are transitioning from Peru to Chile. Transportation is still impacted here with West Coast port delays, and shipping by air has become impractical. Fewer international flights – fewer air cargo flights – flight crews sick – and likely some profiteering going on – freight for one little 4 pound box of 12X6 sized is now over $25 USD per case. Raspberries and Blackberries are pretty solid for supply out of central Mexico, but daily demand does exceed inventory here and there.
Citrus - Daisy Tangerines and Minneolas are in good supply and quality is superb. Our first shot of Blood oranges arrives today. Murcotts and Page Tangerines are on the docket next for harvests.
Grapefruit - steady supplies with MEX and USA options. Bags are hard to come by due to larger sizing on the crop overall. Again, we’re sticking primarily to Fcy grade fruit.
Lemons – pricing is inching up due to overall New Years demand and some heavy rains across all California coast regions have cost several harvest days. You can’t pick lemons when the fruit is wet or damp. Quality on CCH bags in house is outstanding.
Mango - After a brief shortage due to delayed sea containers we should be back into some Peruvian Kent volume by the end of the week. A few Keitts still kicking around for now.
Oranges – The Navels (after some cold weather) have coloured up nicely. Valencia bags from Earthgreens are the go-to for great quality and easy selling fruit. Cara Cara are just getting going on larger sizes.
Pears - the category that rarely sees change. We have some BC Anjou now available and everything else has been steady since Christmas.
From Brody:
Bok Choy Regular and Baby – quality and pricing on this is very promotable right now.
Broccoli – really tightening up on the market here and expect some increases in pricing. Our growers have been upping their pricing incrementally every day this week with ongoing cool weather in southern California and temperatures struggling into the high teens - but in 7-10 days I expect supplies will rebound and prices will ease up. Conventional pricing is also at a seasonal high.
Cabbage – all colours and varieties are plentiful out there.
Cauliflower – it’s a bit of sh**show… we’re lucky to get what we can get at the moment. Cold weather has restricted supply and most of our farm vendors are in “call” or O/S mode.
Celery – markets are somewhat stable although pricing is still up quite a bit, but that’s short term weather impacts - -and will recover quickly.
Chard – markets are getting tighter as well, but Heger has strong supply.
Cilantro – supplies got very very tight, especially down in the desert. We’ve got good supplies coming from Josie’s and Capay though.
Fennel – good supply everywhere.
Kale – similar story to chards. Some supplies are tightening up but everyone has some at least so there isn’t a supply shortage
Leeks – Ralph’s should get through this freeze and be able to ship next week again. Might have lost a tonne of their crop though. Too much snow, broken water lines in the pack shed, yard frozen and icy etc. Unfortunately, and tragically, our local grower Crisp in Sumas Prairie had acreage ready for spring harvest and the crop was completely under-water for weeks – no oxygen and the plants die. That was just some of this week’s bad news!
Lettuce - growers here are coming out of the backside of several nights of frost in Yuma – supply is good on quality issues we’ve seen – and blister damage on Romaine should clean up. We’re still waiting to hear when Ecocampos can begin shipping lettuce again. Severe frosts for several days post Christmas took their toll on full sized lettuce in Guanajuato, so we may not see anything from them for another couple of weeks. Overnight frosts in soCal and Mexico are common, but rarely does the temperature drop below freezing for more than an hour or two, so product is usually completely recoverable, although everyone should expect some outer leaf blister on leaf.
Green Onions – pricing is up substantially, again cold nights and cool days have slowed growth substantially in the Mexicali Valley where most of them are produced and packed for multiple brands.
Parsley Italian – tight! Ditto the cilantro world for this. We have incoming from a couple of farms who had product big enough to cut but everyone else is CALL/OUT.
Radish – very, very tight. We’ll just leave it at that.
Spinach – plentiful and quality is good.
From Carter:
Asparagus – Baja to Sonora transition continues with cold weather added into the mix. Organic sheds are completely out or pro rating to retail contracts. Gourmet Trading, PrimeTime, Devine, and JMB all out. Look for a small amount of grass to arrive to Vancouver around January 16th/22nd . Expect high prices!
Beans – New arrivals today and Sunday from Covilli. Support Fair Trade. 25# pack out. Steady supply going into next week.
Brussels Sprouts – Fair Trade 10# pack from Covilli arriving Sunday. Covilli just started up with Brussels this week which should go till about April. Lots of pack out options available! 10#/25#/24x1#/12x1#/8x1#... Any interest on packages - just let our sales team know and we can add to subsequent orders.
Carrots – We should see a Fountainview order arrive to Vancouver on Jan 18th. No table grade available just field run and juice grade. New arrival of 24/2# California Kern in Sunday. We have a great selection of back to school packs from Cal-O.
Field Cucumbers – New arrivals Saturday and Sunday.
Juice Cucumbers – Very limited at the moment. Next arrival to Vancouver is Friday, January 14th
LE Cucumbers – Supply is steady going into next week. New arrivals Saturday and Sunday.
Garlic – Alberta’s finest Red Russian Garlic is arriving to Vancouver hopefully by Sunday from our friends at Mans Organics in Coaldale, Alberta as our BC growers are pretty much wrapped up for the season.
Mushrooms – Looking good for poundage across the board from Highline next week. Champ’s is still limited to JBO and M whites. With the warmer temps for next week Oysters should be back in the mix.
Snap Peas – New arrival Sunday from 4Earth.
Peppers – Supply looking really good for the next few weeks on Bell Peppers. 25# and 11# packs. Promotional pricing available very soon, please chat with our sales team for upcoming promo.
Zucchini – Steady supply into next week. New arrivals today and Sunday. FT pack arriving Sunday via Wholesum
Grape Tomatoes – New inbounds Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday… Supply is rock solid for the next few weeks
Potatoes – Lots of BC spuds to go around from Fraserland. Big yields this year which should push supply till end of February-mid March. Then we’ll move to Peak of Market and other MB growers, and our spring program with Vanco is unsure at the moment.Potato wart was found in PEI this year and the USDA closed the border to PEI imports.On top of that CFIA, to make sure that nasty virus doesn’t spread have asked across Canada, so are asking for sprout inhibitors on potatoes. Here’s the note from Vanco…
From Jon:
Yams - Brand new lot arriving next Wednesday, quantities will be limited until then.
Kiwis - More local Kiwis arriving on Sunday. Bagged kiwis will be tight till later next week.
Organic Girl Salads - Heavy shorts on salads due to freezing temperatures in California, hoping to be back on track after this upcoming week.