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Packers continue to struggle with lower-than-expected demand, both domestically and export. January exports were down 4.1% year over year. Imports have increased to 38.1%, large part to Brazilian and Australia.
All chicken markets are higher across the board because of limited supply due to hatchability and mortality issues.
Bird weights, hatchability, and bird mortality are limiting availability in products and driving prices higher. Breasts availability has tightened. Wings remain tight in the market. Tenders’ availability is limited. Dark meat demand remains very good. Whole birds are mostly balanced.
B/I butts are flat. Boneless butts moved up, mainly due to increased exports. Ribs are also moving up next week but are expected to trade sideways until late March. Strap on loins are trending down, while strap off loins are expected to move up, and the overall complex should begin to move up with the warmer weather. Bellies again are quite volatile with decreases for next week.
Supply is ample to cover most current demand, packers remain optimistic. Buyers continue to be cautious and focus on immediate needs. Middle meats continue steady, while strips continue to surprise w/ stronger pricing. End cuts continue drawing interest, especially inside rounds, as need for lean trim also supports this cut.
Shell egg markets are all flat except medium and Northwest/California are down. Block & Barrel are decreasing. Butter is increasing.
Soybean oil moved higher with decreasing crop estimates in South America, and sizeable increase for palm oil as palm oil is experiencing good demand and smaller production values. Canola is moving along with soy and palm.
The Lenten season is in full force. Lobster tails have had a challenging season and supply is tight. Dungeness crab season is in full swing, with the availability of new inventory from vendors. Live crawfish prices will be high, and inventories will be tight this year. Please consider using frozen crawfish as an alternative.
Market is still depressed but increasing. We are in the fifth straight week of unprecedented low market pricing.
West – Green and Red pepper are in demand exceeds, yellow supply is better. Pricing is high and expected to hold through mid April. Coloring continues to struggle.
East – Green peppers are in better supply as more shippers are into crown pick, color short until Georgia harvest starts.
Market mostly steady as transition North starting late this week with good supplies to cover from both regions.
Rain has impacted harvesting and yields are down on all varieties, demand continues to exceeds supplies.
Supplies and quality good on both red and green. Market mostly softer on both.
Market pushing higher as we transition regions and supplies are limited. Growers are just meeting demand and some subbing sizes may be needed.
Market mainly steady with good supplies and moderate demand.
Cilantro and Parsley supplies and overall quality look good. Market mainly steady for on Parsley and Cilantro up a bit.
West – Steady supply and market, quality is good, all varieties available, yellow volume expected to tighten up next week.
East – Supply is good out of Florida, market is slightly lower.
West – Market is looking to decrease as supply improves. Expect more volume of 24ct, quality is fair to good.
East – supply is extremely limited, quality is an issue, market very high. Demand is high for Lent.
West – Short supplies expected to hold for two weeks, demand has decreased. Market is high. Quality is good. New growing region to start next week should help.
East – Limited supply as offshore is coming to an end and Florida harvest begins.
Market up significantly as demand has picked up and quality, mostly mildew pressure in the field, is impacting yields. Market on Hearts have followed suit and trending much higher
Supplies will be tight until we transition to our spring regions in a few weeks. The overall onion market is steady at current high markets. Mexico has started to cross few U.S. certified onions into the U.S. with more volume to follow.
Supplies are very light on 40-50 ct from most suppliers. 90-120 ct are plentiful. This now looks to be the case through the summer months. Demand is following supply accordingly. Prices are steady for now. Quality is good.
West – Good supplies of zucchini, volume improving on yellow, quality good, market is lower.
East – Supply is good on zucchini, lighter on yellow, demand is strong.
Cherry varieties remain on alert status due to lack of availability from MX & FL. Roma markets are down a bit both east and west. The round market continues to improve with increased availability out of MX with market lower.
Prices are trending higher on all sizes due to a slowdown in harvest as growers deal with holidays around Easter. Smaller fruit is seeing a higher increase, with limited supply of 60ct & 70ct this week.
Lemons –Alert Lemons have been impacted by rain this winter. Large sizes are very plentiful, while 140s & smaller are limited. Suppliers are forced to sub into larger size.
Oranges –Alert Excessive rainfall this winter has led to larger fruit sizes. While the industry has a surplus of large oranges, the availability of small and medium sizes is critically limited. This is expected to persist for the duration of the navel season and into the Valencia-orange season this summer.
Limes – Supplies are still limited crossing in from Mexico, in particular 110-175 ct.
Market active as demand has been light, however we expect the market to climb as we get closer to Easter and holidays start to limit harvesting.
Both red and green continue limited supplies with demand exceeds now for green. Mexican supplies in late May will be our first point of relief.
