DLJ Produce - Marketing Report
Week of September 19th – September 25th
13260 Daum Drive
City of Industry, CA 91746
626 330 – 6849
CA STONE FRUIT
Yellow Peach – The California peach crop will continue along in light volume with
growers harvesting Autumn Flames in both Arvin and Reedley / Kingsburg.
Volume will be light for the balance of the season and size will be big, with fruit
peaking on 48’s and larger. Color and quality will be strong and harvesting will
stretch for the next couple weeks leading up to October. Other proprietary varieties
like Last Tango and Last Chance will also be harvested at the same time. FOB
prices will continue to remain strong due to a combination of high demand and
lackluster volume out of Utah, Idaho and Washington. Expect pricing to be firm
and supplies to be limited for the remainder of the season, with most shippers
winding down by September 30th.
Yellow Nectarine – We have gotten past the heavy volume experienced in late
October / early September. Growers have cleaned up the heavy inventories from
the last couple weeks and FOB prices will slowly start to creep up. The last fruit of
the season will finish harvest this week and supplies will stretch through the
remainder of September pending movement. Quality will remain strong, with
moderate supplies of small volume fill and large tray packs being available. FOB
prices will increase this week and firm up as inventories are cleaned up. One more
week of ad promotion will be available, then volume will hit the skids quickly.
White Peach – The last of the September Snow white peach are in the cooler and
will clean up by the end of the week. Expect the season to wind down quickly with
only minimal amounts of large size tray packs on inventory. Only mixer pallets will
make it into October, with shippers looking to clean up the season as soon as
possible.
White Nectarine – Artic Snow and Arctic Mist, the last two varieties of the season,
will see their last days of harvest this week. Inventories of tray packs and volume fill
will be available due to only moderate demand from export customers. Quality will
be strong, but expect to see some green background color that is inherent to late
white nectarine varieties. Supplies will carry through the week but are expected to
clean up once we reach October. FOB prices will remain relatively unchanged as
growers look to move volume and finish.
Plums – Black Kat and Angelino will make up the bulk of the black plum volume
this week. As Black Kats continue to wind down, more Angelino acreage will come
into production and begin harvest. Expect volume to remain consistent, but
demand has increased as of late. FOB prices will slowly increase over the next
couple weeks into October before plum storage programs / controlled atmosphere
inventories begin. Quality will remain strong for the balance of the season, with
Angelinos expected to peak on 40 – 50 series.
Red plums will be a combination of September Yummy that is on its last
round of shipping and Flavor Fall variety that will start at the end of the week.
Also, late proprietary varieties like Holiday plum are getting ready to start harvest.
Volume will be moderate to carry into October, but recent action has brought
some life to the plum market. Quality will remain strong, but size will increase
considerably once growers start Flavor Fall in volume. FOB prices will follow their
black counterpart and slowly increase as volume tails off.
GRAPES
The red grape market remains all over the board as growers continue to
harvest Rubies, Scarlet Royals, Crimson and clean up the last of their Flame
inventory. This has created a split market, with some shippers looking to move
lower color / quality Flames at a reduced FOB price. Quality has not been greatly
affected by the light sprinkles the Central Valley experienced last weekend. Quality
will remain strong, especially on fresh picked Scarlet Royal and Crimson. These
varieties will command a higher FOB, especially on export caliber boxes. Expect
volume on Crimson to increase considerably next week as color finally catches up
with the late start.
The green grape market will move along steadily as growers continue to pick
Thompson and even a few late blocks of Princess. Some growers have already
finished their Thompson fields and are waiting on Autumn King to start in the
next couple weeks. Good inventories of green grapes remain and will continue to
carry over and bridge the gap between varieties. Quality has been consistent, but
some signs of scarring and mildew persist. Due to the weather during the growing
cycle and the overall weakness of the Thompson crop, growers will not pack a 16
lb. storage grape this season in favor of shipping as 19 lb. quickly. This will help
limit the liability of problems popping up during storage. Autumn King and Luisco
will have to carry the late season market.
Growers have finished their Fantasy and Lindy Black varieties of black grapes
and will move into Autumn Royal variety. Overall, the crop locks very short this
season due to the variety being alternate bearing and this may affect FOB prices
considerably. The lack of total cases will affect the entire industry and keep
demand at a peak to cover ad commitments. Volume will increase as more fields
come into production at the end of the week.
Red Globe availability will remain consistent with good volume continuing
to be harvested in the field. Expect export demand to stay high, but enough volume
will be around to cover domestic demand. Quality will remain strong as growers
look to keep the pack clean. FOB prices will remain at a promotable level most of
the month of October until quality becomes an issue and supplies start to tighten
up.
IMPORTED CITRUS
The import citrus season will slowly start to wind down as we reach the end
of the month. The East Coast will see their last arrivals on Chilean and South
African product at the start of October as Florida gets ready to start production.
Overall, quality will remain strong with only slight problems of freeze damage on
navels still popping up. The decrease in arrivals will push up FOB prices on both
coasts as demand starts to exceed supply. Large size clementines and South African
product will remain tight until the end of season and greatly affect availability.
Movement on the West Coast will remain steady, but the same kind of constraints
will be in place with the lack of volume affecting FOB prices.
CA CITRUS
Growers will slowly start to wind down on the Valencia crop in California as
packouts in the field start to finish up. Quality will remain strong, with good sugar
content, but signs of puff will be prevalent due to recent weather conditions. Navel
oranges will be historically late this season and shippers will look to stretch the
Valencia crop into the first couple weeks of October to help fill the gaps. Expect
FOB prices to increase steadily over the next couple weeks as decreased production
starts to increase supply.