Good news! The ILA port strike on the East Coast is averted as union members and shippers reach a tentative agreement. The strike would have snarled produce supplies trying to enter the U.S. through ports from Texas to Maine. Particularly celebratory news for melon and grape buyers as supplies for both commodities remain scarce.
ProduceIQ Index: $1.25/pound, – down 1.6 percent over prior week
Week #2, ending January 10th
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.
On the West Coast, strong Santa Ana winds are fueling devastating wildfires surrounding Los Angeles. Despite firefighters’ best efforts, strong, dry winds are pushing fires beyond containment lines and into new areas.
This week, more Santa Ana winds are in the forecast, but overall firefighting conditions are expected to improve slightly. Besides claiming 24 lives and destroying over 2,000 structures, the fires are causing power outages and affecting the flow of produce supply in the LA area.
The cold front that reached deep into Florida last week did slow the production of a few commodities such as cucumbers and squash but did little to stop plummeting tomato prices.
Tomato prices are down on average -27 percent over the previous week. Round-type tomatoes are down -32 percent, grape type -37, and roma -15 percent over the previous week. Increased production in Mexico and Florida is ramping up supplies after months of low volume and high prices.
Tomato prices, 5×6 in the East fell dramatically to bargain levels.
Hass avocado prices soar, up +24 percent over the previous week. Limited production over the holidays has left the supply pipeline desperate for product. Averaging $60, prices are at a ten-year high for week #2 by a significant margin. Supply is slowly increasing. However, volume is significantly below normal for the first two weeks of the year. Suppliers are forecasting a return to more normal volume in the next two weeks.
Hass avocado prices, 48ct crossing Texas, start the year at record highs ($70).
Lime prices rise +32 percent over the previous week. The transition to the new crop, holiday labor shortages, and unseasonably heavy rain constrict supply and push prices well above average for week #2. Because increased demand and lean supply are in the forecast for late January, expect above-average prices to persist through February.
Seedless Lime prices, 200ct tend to rise through early March.
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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.
