Beef
The winter storms across the country are ending for now. The Beef industry appears to have hesitation that packers will be able to keep momentum on their side once full production schedules resume.
January 24, 2024
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Market Headlines
Poultry
Overall, the market for chicken continues to push upward. Breasts availability on all sizes has tightened. Tenders are becoming less available. Wings of all sizes have increases in demand (NFL Playoffs) and shortened production. Dark meat demand remains solid. Whole birds are in balance.
Pork
Butts should weaken for the remainder of January before they begin to trend up sometime in February. Spareribs are seeing support in the marketplace but backribs are trending down. After some gains loins are expected to fall back down as demand tapered off. Bellies saw some large gains in the market due to reduced availability.
Beef
Chucks and rounds continue trending up supported by recent spikes in demand and much lower supplies. Ribs have reset and now may show some close in weakness, while strips continue appreciating. Tenders are showing strength in SEL grade, while upper 2/3rd grade continues to soften. Grinds continue tight due to limited harvest; gains are being seen.
Dairy
Shell egg markets are all up this week. Block is decreasing & Barrel market are increasing. Butter is up. January Cream and Culture pricing will reflect price decreases due to those market adjustments.
Grains / Oil
Soybean oil ended last week flat. Many factors leading to higher soybean oil prices, 3–year lows, large fund traders with a smaller footprint for all soybean related commodities, higher oil/meal ration, lower stocks, and higher palm markets. Canola is higher with slow farmer selling poor seed exports. Palm moved higher.
Seafood
Imported Shrimp market is slowly firming up. Imported white shrimp and expecting to see pricing creep up going into lent and beyond. Dungeness crab season opened last week in California, and suppliers will start seeing new inventory from new season. Expect some discounts on last season product.
To learn more contact your local Sales Consultant. Market Corner Produce information reflects both U.S. and Canadian markets. All other commodity information is based on U.S. market data only.
Produce Market Updates
Vegetables
Arugala – Alert
Supplies are very tight due to yellowing and lower yields. Expect supplies to be short another week or so.
Asparagus – Alert
Peru production is winding down as Mexico ramps up. Market is adjusting down. Heavy volume is expected mid–February, for now product exceeds demand. Market remains very high.
Bell Peppers – Alert
East – Green supplies are improving and market a bit softer. Red, Yellow and Orange are in short supply.
West – Low inventory all varieties of peppers. Market for Green expected to increase next week as volume subsides more. Cold is causing trouble with them coloring up.
Broccoli
Rain is causing issues in Yuma and supplies are light with the market higher.
Cabbage – Green & Red
Supplies and quality good on both red and green. Market steady on green and a bit up on red.
Cauliflower
Market higher with moderate volume. Cooler weather has sizing trending closer to 9s and 12s, 16s are light.
Celery
Good supplies and market trend down a bit, expect good supplies for next few weeks.
Cilantro/Parsley
Cilantro and Parsley supplies and overall quality look good. Market mainly steady for both.
Cucumbers
East – Cucumbers being imported from Honduras and Mexico; supplies are very light at this time. Quality is good, demand is good and the market very strong.
West – Demand exceeds. Rain and cold severely diminishing production.
Green Beans – Alert
East – Supplies remain extremely limited, quality good, demand good and market very high.
West – Demand exceeds supply due to weather. Looking for better availability starting late next week.
Lettuce and Romaine
Market mostly steady. Overall, plenty of volume available with good quality. Rain early in the week has delayed harvest in the fields, but growers should be able to get back fairly quick. Romaine market holding steady, and the heart market is a little strong on moderate supplies.
Onions – White – Alert
Domestically there are no quality white onion inventory available from Idaho and Washington white onion supplies are reducing rapidly. Suppliers expect to see a few onion crossings in from Mexico around mid to late February.
Potatoes – Russets
Supplies are good for all sizes with moderate demand. The market remains steady. Quality is good.
Squash – Alert
All squash remains tight across the country. Very high markets on both yellow and green squash. Not expecting this to change over the next few weeks. Cold temperatures, cloudy days, and rain are causing moderate quality issues.
Tomatoes – Alert
Markets continue to escalate because of declining availability both east and west on all varieties. Production will not improve until early/mid–February. All varieties remain on alert status.
Fruit
Avocado
Prices are coming off mostly on larger sizes due to heavy harvests. The industry is slightly over supplied but expecting huge demand over the next two weeks ahead of the Super Bowl.
Citrus – Alert
Lemons – Strong demand is keeping this market firm. Crop is peaking on 140/95/115 and the desert region is finishing up for the season.
Oranges – Alert This week’s weather has stalled harvest, as this will impact the availability of the small sizes by end of the week. Market remains firm.
Limes – Demand has subsided in response to extreme winter weather events across the country, although overall availability continues to decline. Expect decreased supply trends to remain consistent for the foreseeable future.
Grapes – Alert
Peru volume expected to show a reductions of percent due to results of El Nino weather, drought in Chili and late start to Mexico make for a demand exceeds import grape market.
Honeydew – Alert
Extremely limited from all sources with no relief expected for 3–4 weeks. Sizing is mostly 5s and larger with few 6s and no 8s. Flexibility of sizing may be required to meet demand.
