A week of biblical proportions. The death toll from Hurricane Helene continues to climb as growers in North Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee assess damage from the massive storm. Over ninety people have been reported dead. Rescuers expect that number to climb as they access more isolated affected areas.
The hurricane landed in Florida’s Big Bend as a Category 4 storm on Thursday evening. Over three days, the storm brought fierce wind and rain to areas throughout the Southeast. Some places in Western North Carolina saw more than 20 inches of rain. Millions of people are without power, and significant roadways and bridges in the affected areas are impassable due to damage.
Many commodities were in the line of fire from this storm. The path went directly through Georgia’s growing regions as the fall harvest began. Although many undoubtedly suffered damage, growers are still diagnosing the full extent of injuries to fall crops. Corn, pepper, cucumber, squash, and tomatoes are just a few crops that will be damaged.
On Tuesday, the International Longshoremen’s Association will begin a strike at U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, citing wage disputes and opposition to automation. The strike could disrupt key supply chains. No negotiations are planned, and President Biden has stated he will not intervene.
ProduceIQ Index: $1.29/pound, down -2.3 percentover prior week
Week #39, ending September 27th
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.
Corn supply is tight, especially in the East. Damage to fields and wet harvesting conditions in Georgia and the Carolinas will drive up the prices next week.
A notable portion of the bean supply comes from Western North Carolina during the early fall. As a result, we will see prices rise next week as the markets adjust for the damage done by Hurricane Helene. In the West, bean supply is similarly weak due to a gap in production. Currently, bean supply and prices are moderate, so enjoy the opportunity to load up while it lasts.
Beans enter a volatile season, leading up to the Thanksgiving pull in 6 weeks.
Average bell pepper prices climb higher, up +5 percent over the previous week. Georgia’s fall harvest was set to begin in about two weeks. But we will likely see some delays and impacts from Helene. Unrelated to the storm, red and yellow bell peppers are particularly short, and relief is not forecast for at least ten days.
Pepper prices are expected to rise with crop damage, and wet clay makes harvesting challenging.
The tropics are still very active. Multiple named storms are currently in the Atlantic, and more are expected to develop over the next week. Stay tuned for next week’s newsletter to learn how 2024’s hurricane season will affect produce prices.
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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.
