Bondi Produce Market Report October 16th 2023

Weather in the Southeast this week will slow down production on squash, cucumbers, corn, and bell pepper out of South Georgia, but it should ramp back up over the weekend. Squash and slicer cucumber volume continues to increase out of the Sonoran Desert with bell peppers to follow over the next three weeks. Tomatoes will wrap up out of the local and mountain regions over the next week, and South Georgia and Quincy are scratching. Supply is expected to be stable on rounds and romas through October, then transition to the Ruskin Palmetto region in early November.

The California season is finishing up over the next two weeks while we expect the early fall and winter programs out of Central Mexico to increase over the next three weeks. Grape tomatoes are very short as Mexico transitions and in the east supply is limited as local production winds down. Hot pepper will be very active over the next several weeks, Hurricane Lidia hit the major growing regions of Nyarit bringing heavy rain damaging crops, and inventories will be extremely light over the next week and could get worse. Habanero and serranos are the shortest, but others are following, and prices are climbing.

Huron will be starting over the weekend with Lettuce and leaf items. Early reports are for good quality, but we anticipate lighter weights to continue. Regarding the political unrest reported in Guatemala, we have been informed there are several protests throughout the country which are limiting the ability to get tropical trade to the ports for export. Freight and logistics companies in Guatemala are beginning to close until access to the ports is safe. Should this not get resolved soon, it will escalate and affect arrivals and unloading at the ports which receive Guatemalan product. The following commodities may be affected: bananas, plantains, french beans, peeled baby carrots/peeled baby carrots tricolor, broccoli florets, snow peas, sugar snap peas, baby squash, and specialty tomatoes.