Election week is finally over. Even if your candidate didn’t win this year, we can all at least find solace in the fact that the ambush of campaign text messages and phone calls has ended.
Also, last week, an early winter storm swept across the West. Anya brought snow and wintery conditions from Colorado to New Mexico. The storm temporarily impacted transportation in the affected areas but largely avoided major produce-growing regions.
In other weather-related news, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System, 43 percent of the U.S. is in drought. As a result of the abnormally dry conditions, wildfires from California to New Jersey are plaguing rural and residential areas of the country. No active growing regions are in imminent danger, but persistently dry conditions empowering the fires highlight the plight for water that growers across the country continue to face.
ProduceIQ Index: $1.20/pound, down -0.8 percentover prior week
Week #45, ending November 8th
Blue Book has teamed with ProduceIQ BB #:368175 to bring the ProduceIQ Index to its readers. The index provides a produce industry price benchmark using 40 top commodities to provide data for decision making.
A series of unfortunate circumstances has lettuce buyers clinging tighter to the beginning of Yuma’s season than President-Elect Donald Trump to the American flag on election night. Average iceberg prices are up +80 percent, and romaine prices are up +43 percent over the previous week.
Salinas, CA, is winding down production; inclement weather is hampering the onset of production in Yuma, AZ; and Mexican supply is light. Expect prices to rise over the next few weeks during this transition until supply stabilizes in new growing regions.
Iceberg lettuce spikes a few weeks later than it had in prior years.
Strawberry prices in Week #45 are trending above average but are still well within the bounds of historical precedent. Cooler weather in Central California and low yields from Mexican growers constrict supply and fuel price increases. With Florida production expected to begin three weeks behind schedule this year, prices could continue to trend above average for three to six weeks from now.
Strawberry prices, $23, typically rise for the next 3 weeks and then begin descent.
After weeks of elevated prices, orange markets are down 15 percent from the previous week. The navel season in California is underway, and improved supply from growers in Mexico and Chile is sending sky-high prices back to Earth. Prices are still at a ten-year high for week #45, but supply and sizing are forecasted to only improve over the next few months.
Oranges, 72ct, descend from record highs. Inflation is evident in the orange market.
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ProduceIQ is an online toolset designed to improve the produce trading process for buyers and suppliers. We save you time, expand your opportunities, and provide valuable information to increase your profits.
ProduceIQ Index
The ProduceIQ Index is the fresh produce industry’s only shipping point price index. It represents the industry-wide price per pound at the location of packing for domestic produce and at the port of U.S. entry for imported produce.
ProduceIQ uses 40 top commodities to represent the industry. The Index weights each commodity dynamically, by season, as a function of the weekly 5-year rolling average Sales. Sales are calculated using the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service for movement and price data. The Index serves as a fair benchmark for industry price performance.
