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Rising summer salad demand is strengthening romaine prices. Growers in Salinas and Santa Maria, CA, report good quality, and local deals in the Midwest, Canada and East Coast are starting to produce commercial quantities.
Lime volume has been higher and steadier from May through July than the previous two years, and that’s leading to a low, but stable F.O.B. market.
Kiwifruit volume and prices are returning to more normal levels after bad weather caused lighter supplies and a price spike.
When it comes to bananas, there’s a reason we use the word interchangeably with descriptions for insanity. It is nearly impossible to make sense of how this all continues to operate the way it does.
As the domestic plum season hits its peak in Mid-July, retail volume is up with dollars flat. The latest retail scan data from IRI Worldwide shows plum volume up 14% in the week ending July 12, with dollars flat, up slightly at 0.7%.
Retail cauliflower sales have slowed compared to early in the pandemic, though sales continue to post double-digit year-over-year growth.
Celery buyers should continue to see normal conditions, as volume remains above last year’s, and prices have been steady since the start of summer.
Onions continue to prove resilient as buyers start to see more volume from the 2020-21 season.
Citrus exporters to the U.S. are finding a hot market this summer as retail demand has been explosive during the pandemic.
Having passed the Independence Day holiday, watermelon buyers should find plenty of local supply options.
The national carrot market shows higher volume and pricing than the previous two years. While those two things don’t usually go hand-in-hand, two factors may be leading unusual strength to the market.
Bell pepper prices are significantly higher than last year as the crop transitions from Mexico and desert areas to Central California.
Lemons continue to ride the citrus pandemic demand wave that is keeping strength in the wholesale market.
Grape prices are relatively low as supplies transition from Mexico to California. Retail demand has been weak so far this summer as scan data shows grape sales about 10 percent below last year in June.
Squash volumes typically drop in the summer as domestic producers supply the market, but this summer is seeing even lighter volumes.
July typically marks the start of Central California’s cantaloupe season, and hopes are high for a better season than spring.
The boom in home cooking has boosted the demand for garlic, and volume increases show suppliers are up to the challenge.
The North American apple market has settled into a normal pattern of steady prices and heavier-than-normal summer volume after the March pandemic spike and drop.
The avocado market has reached stability as summer begins. Supplies are growing from California, which is having a strong rebound year from last year, and Mexican exports are doing their best to meet demand but not exceed it.
Sweet potato volume is at its lowest levels in five years as the 2019-20 crop winds down. However, consumer demand remains strong, keeping pricing steady.
F.O.B. prices have risen 300 percent in the past month, going from just over $10 per carton to around $30, with most supplies coming from California and Georgia.
The boom in home cooking has boosted the demand for garlic, and volume increases show suppliers are up to the challenge.
The strawberry market has seen increased volume and strong demand and very little effect from the pandemic.
Broccoli prices are soaring as supplies tighten and consumer demand shows no signs of letting up.
California cherry growers have finished shipping a large cherry crop that has been met with strong retail demand.
Romaine lettuce seems to have gotten over the problems associated with the pandemic and is returning to normal volume and price levels.
Stability has mostly returned to the iceberg lettuce market as the crop shifted from the desert to central California.
Papayas have shown resilience in the face of the pandemic and food safety problems.
Tomatoes volumes are in a downward trend in June, which is causing prices to be higher than previous years for June. Agtools analysis shows this is not related to the pandemic, but rather to the normal seasonal shift.
Onions have had an eventful spring with the pandemic, but as crops transition in late spring …
Celery volume continues to stay above normal levels, keeping up with consumer demand.
Orange prices keep rising this spring as retail demand remains strong. The latest IRI scan data shows oranges at 79 percent higher year-over-year dollar growth and 80 percent on volume growth.
No produce item shows this pandemic effect as clearly as potatoes, whose average F.O.B. price has been about half of what it was in early March, as demand has been significantly damaged by restaurant, school and institution closures.
Green bean volumes had lagged behind the past few seasons, but May is seeing greater supplies and an accompanying drop in F.O.B. prices.
The cucumber market in 2020 looks very similar to the past two years. It saw a price surge about the time stay-at-home orders began in mid-March, and then prices quickly dropped to a normal level.
Domestic peach season is just starting, and it’s largely headed to a retail market that shows signs of slowing down.
The bell pepper market remains elevated as Mexican supplies leave the market and U.S. production kicks into full gear.
With the unofficial start of summer this weekend, the unofficial fruit of summer already has good supplies with the domestic season just getting going.
Aside from a mid-March blip in the market, artichokes have enjoyed a routine spring with strong supplies and steady demand.
Total volume of pineapple for 2020 has dropped 50 percent from mid-February to mid-May compared to 2019.
Cauliflower prices are low, and volume and quality are strong. It looks to be another case of a crop planted before any pandemic knowledge, and now there are more supplies than demand.
Fresh carrots appear immune from the pandemic as domestic and import volumes have remained in normal ranges. Likewise, pricing has been steady from California and Georgia, while Mexican imports have seen prices double in the past month.
Mango prices struggle to reach pre-pandemic levels as spring sees a volume surge. In mid-March, as stay-at-home orders began and restaurants closed, prices dropped, but by mid-April, they showed a bump up.
California cherry season started strong with volume rising daily. Prices have dropped slightly since the start of May but remain higher than last year at the same time.
Sweet onion supplies appear normal and healthy, but unfortunately, the market is anything but.
Chile’s grape season is ending faster than normal due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but prices have stayed steady this spring.
Even the avocado market was affected when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the economy in mid-March, but it appears to have resumed its normal season.
Romaine prices have struggled this year, particularly after mid-March stay-at-home orders closed restaurant dining rooms. Volume since early March has been below average, but it still reflects pre-pandemic plantings.
Aside from a slight volume and price blip in mid-March when lockdown orders began, mushrooms have enjoyed a strong 2020 at retail.
Even with meager volumes pre-dating the pandemic, lemon prices remain lower than previous seasons.
Late season pear volumes are dropping faster than normal, which may have helped keep prices stable during the pandemic.
Tomato prices are on the rise as spring volumes are well below average. F.O.B.s from Mexico have doubled in the past several weeks.
Garlic prices have doubled in the past few months, even before the pandemic, and now volume has crashed, likely the result of disrupted supply chains.
While Mexican lime volume has been inconsistent this spring, prices have been steadily below average, offering buyers a good opportunity.
With Mother’s Day less than two weeks away, strawberry volume looks to stabilize from California, while prices remain low but in a normal range.
After a mid-March stock-up spike, sweet potato volume has been steadily decreasing along with demand. Prices, however, have been steady the last few months.
Apple volumes are returning to normal levels after a panic-buy surge and then slump in March.
Cabbage prices have been low the past two months, and volume has dropped significantly from its pre-St. Patrick’s Day surge.
Stronger pricing has returned to the asparagus market, as volume has had a more dramatic drop.
Imported cantaloupes saw strong volumes and a rising market until a mid-March crash caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Onion and potato markets continue to struggle with too much product and not enough outlets.
About 175 pineapple producers are being affected by the drop in exports due to low worldwide demand, the National Chamber of Pineapple Producers (CANAPEP) told Diario Extra, a Costa Rican news agency.
Bell pepper prices dropped in half after the mid-March stay-at-home orders forced restaurants and institutions to close and consumers shifted almost exclusively to retail.
Blueberry prices dropped in late March as national stay-at-home orders affected consumers, but the market has been stable and volumes very similar to previous years.
Many fruits and vegetables saw plummeting demand followed by lower volumes as most Americans sheltered-in-place, panic bought at grocery, and then showed little demand with restaurants and institutions closed.
Strawberry marketers face an unprecedented market as supplies transition from Florida and Mexico to California.
Lettuce and tomato volumes and prices dropped in the past few weeks as consumer demand cratered following the shutdown of many of the nation’s restaurants.
This year’s Mexican lime crop has been large and high quality, and through the first half of March demand was keeping up.
Broccoli and cauliflower are two more vegetables that have seen consumer demand drop since the mid-March retail surge as cities around the United States issues shelter-in-place orders.
As millions of Americans were told to shelter-in-place in mid-March and grocery stores because one of the few food outlets available to them, people bought food at amazing levels.
