With Halloween just ten days away, it’s time to delay conjuring up those last-minute costumes for your kids — because, let’s be honest, the night before is when the real magic happens.
If you want them to stand out this year, perhaps draw some inspiration from this week’s market highlights. After all, what could be more terrifying than a spooky shortage of sweet corn or tomatoes?
The sweet corn market is cursed. Supply is hauntingly tight due to the devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the East, coupled with scorching heat in the West.
This time of year, producers in South Georgia typically bear the brunt of the production burden, but Helene’s wrath has slashed the region’s supply. The high winds laid down some fields, and others were impacted by excessive rain.
Milton will impact future corn harvesting through December, as plantings in Belle Glade’s muckland were too wet to plant. Sandier farms fared better. It seems this supply nightmare will haunt us well into the new year.
ProduceIQ Index: $1.19/pound, down -1.7 percentover prior week
Week #42, ending October 18th
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.
Sweet corn will cause the frights for buyers through December
Green beans are vanishing faster than a ghost at dawn. Average prices have surged by a bone-chilling 56% over the previous week. Western heat and Hurricane Helene’s eerie effects in the East are strangling the supply, fueling a rise in volatility. While prices remain on the lower end of historical levels, expect a monstrous climb through Week #45 (Thanksgiving).
Green beans poised for dramatic price gains before Thanksgiving.
Tomato buyers are in for a true Halloween horror. Round and plum tomatoes are anticipated to run very short through the holidays due to damage from Helene and heat in the West. Later-season problems are expected from the damage caused by Milton to the Tampa/Ruskin, FL, area. In the next couple of weeks, Quincy, FL, should start up and provide some relief to the overextended supply, but it won’t be enough to close the gap.
Tomato, 25lb 5×6, are on the rise and expected to remain volatile through early winter.
But not all is cursed. There’s a glimmer of hope — green onion prices are on the downward slide, a treat in this trick-filled market. Prices dropped dramatically from an average of $26 in week #41 to $19 in week #42. Improved growing conditions in Northern Mexico have summoned enough supply to calm buyers’ nerves.
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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.
