Prices for round tomatoes are escalating. Supplies are short in all regions, including Florida, and crossings via McAllen and Nogales. The challenges persist for round tomatoes from Florida, marked by reduced yields, diminished acreage, and unpredictable weather conditions. Demand has shifted to Mexico, causing prices to escalate. In Florida, a shortage of volume is observed due to bloom loss caused by inclement weather in January. The overall quality is rated as decent to fair, with a concentration of fruit in smaller sizes (6x6s/6x7s). Anticipate continued limited supply in Florida until the onset of spring crops in mid-March. Grape and cherry tomato supply is lower than usual in Florida, but prices have slightly decreased due to increased supply from MX. Prices are projected to stay active until the arrival of spring, particularly on round and Roma tomatoes.
The growers have provided information indicating a significant market increase in the coming days.
Due to increased demand and unpredictable weather conditions, prices have surged rapidly. The supplies of both Florida and Mexico are extremely low, while the Eastern supply remains limited. Offshore Honduran supply is below average with fair quality. The spring crops in Florida are expected to begin in the middle of March, but the Mexican supply is in short supply. Despite the quality being okay, the strong demand has caused prices to shoot up this week. Some light production will come out of Baja starting late March, but the field pack cucumbers usually start in June once Nogales finishes. Expectations: Expect an active market until spring crops get going, as weather has taken its toll on winter crops
Smaller sized lemon, lime and oranges are in very short supply. Yuma and Coachella Valley shippers have finished their season leaving demand on the Oxnard and Central Valley shippers. Excessive rain out west is causing the crop to size up leaving very limited supplies on smaller fruit. 88 count oranges are very scarce at this time, and the situation will become worse with more rain in the forecast which will also limit the available time to harvest.
Supplies are starting to get tight. Recent weather in Yuma has seen freezing temperatures, rain, and hail. Iceberg fields are seeing delayed growth, and lighter weights due to the cooler weather. Iceberg is also battling quality issues such as hail damage on the outer leaves. These outer leaves are trimmed back causing the lighter weights. Many suppliers next week are not harvesting iceberg lettuce certain days in an attempt to let product size up and gain weight. Lettuce icing will be a concern for growers in the region as low temperatures reach the low to mid-30s, with high temperatures in the low 60s well below seasonal averages. These temperatures may once again cause some epidermal peeling and blistering in iceberg, romaine and leafy green stands. This will only further slow the recovery in the area as the cool temperatures slow growth rates and growers continue to assess damage in the fields .
We continue to see quality issues in green onions due to the rainy weather out west. Suppliers are
having a hard time harvesting due to the rains and the product that does make it to market has a very poor shelf life. Be advised, there may be alternative pack sizes used to fulfill volumes..