Bondi Produce Market Report August 22nd 2023
Overview:
We are tracking a tropical storm that is likely to become a hurricane off the west coast of Mexico and is certain to impact summer vegetable production on the Baja Peninsula, and possibly some parts of California. We will be monitoring this over the next 5 days. Grape tomatoes are extremely short this week and the east coast is experiencing major delays due to rain washing out fields as well as causing harvest delays. Grapes tomatoes are very sensitive to moisture, and they need to be dry and sorted properly or they will not have the legs to ship post-harvest. Between the need to allow fields to dry out, fruit to dry out and clean up picks, we expect to see escalated markets for the next 2-3 weeks at minimum.
Hot pepper and tomatillo market remains very active with Sinaloa completed and Baja late to start, which is driving prices higher with strong demand on the Mexican national market keeping a majority of the product in Mexico. California volume continues to ramp up on hot peppers. Cantaloupe and honeydew production is now in full swing out of Firebaugh and Patterson. We are seeing tight supply on Pineapples and expect this to continue through October. The shortage of large avocados, 40s & larger, will last through September, possibly longer. With a lot of the industry sized down to counter high price points and availability concerns, there are now slightly more 48s available. There hasn’t been an adjustment to the size curve out of Mexico, so a low volume week or two can easily keep prices on 48s elevated. Late September can potentially be another volatile time as Mexico will be going through a crop transition, coinciding with Peru programs transitioning back into Mexico.
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