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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 demand is high and supply is tight. Wings remain hard to find in the market. Tenders are extremely limited in the market. Dark meat demand remains very good. Whole birds are mostly balanced.
Butts are still trending upwards as demand remains strong. Ribs are also up due to increased demand. Loins after seeing a weak market are now moving up and are expected to move on trend with butts. Bellies are moving up next week with all the other primals, however this market remains volatile week to week.
Market demand continues to be lackluster. Supply is ample packers remain higher out–front quotes. Ribs and tenders are steady, while strips continue to climb higher on seasonal interest and limited supplies. End cuts continue steady, while inside rounds are approaching a ceiling. With limited harvest the supplies of thin meats and grinds are finding some artificial support.
Shell egg markets are all up including Northwest/ California are up. Block & Barrel are decreasing. Butter is up.
A sharp increase last week for soybean oil. Some fund buying contracts and a large increase in palm oil helped push soybean oil higher. Soybean oil and Canola stocks are good, so the greatest market input is the higher move from palm because of lower production and declining stocks.
Pacific Halibut season is underway and initial prices on whole fish are higher, but expected it to soften in the coming weeks. North Atlantic lobster inventory continues to tighten and price is firming. Warm water lobster prices are steady and have not taken the expected increases due to increased availability.
Stronger market as the volume has declined due to shippers closing fields early. Seeing daily pricing increases with possible supply issues as Easter demand peaks.
Market a little active as transition North continues with fair to good supplies to cover from both regions reported.
Rain has impacted harvesting and yields remain down on all varieties, demand continues to exceeds supplies.
Supplies and quality good on both red and green. Market mostly softer on both.
Market settled but still elevated. Supplies are snug as the crop schedule is still off for a couple more weeks.
Market mainly steady with good supplies and moderate demand.
Cilantro is snug this week and into next. Parsley supplies and overall quality look good. Market mainly steady for on Parsley and cilantro.
East – supplies and quality good, with moderate demand; expect demand to increase for easter.
West – Demand for white good, moderate supplies of bi and yellow. Market is slightly lower.
East – Eggplant is still on the tight side and the market remains high. Quality is hit or miss in the
southeast.
West – Moderate supplies, strong market, good quality.
East – Cucumbers are starting to come online in the southeast. Markets are easing off. Supply should start to increase as more growers come online in Florida.
West – Moderate demand with increasing supply, quality is good, normal market expected in ten days. Market is declining.
Yields continue to be impacted at the field level and markets remain firm on both romaine and hearts. Growers are managing demand to make the transition North as soon as the last week of March.
Onion supplies in the Northwest are going to wrap up quickly in the next 7 to 14 days, and we do not expect enough volume in Texas / Mexico to fill the voids that will be created. Growers have implemented 10–week purchase averages. One of the largest growers in Texas got hailed out over the weekend. The availability of onions through the month of March is going to be very spotted.
East – Green Bell Pepper market is down. Quality issues in the southeast due to weather. Colored bells are harder to come by and the markets remain high.
West – Alert – Red pepper coloring issues continue to persist with outlook for better supplies in ten days.
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.
East – Squash markets have leveled off and supply is good in the southeast. Domestic quality has been good.
West – Steady volume, quality and market.
Cherry varieties remain on alert status due to lack of availability out of MX & FL. Roma markets remain stable both east and west. The round market is also stable due to increased availability out of MX.
Market has advanced rapidly from a lack of harvest in Mexico due to national holiday. Do not expect supplies to stabilize before the 2nd week of April. Flexibility on size and grade will be needed to fill orders.
Lemons –Alert– Large sizes are very plentiful, while 140s & smaller are limited. Suppliers are forced to sub into larger size.
Oranges –Alert– 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.
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 impact harvesting.
Overall supplies are set to improve late this week but still will not meet the high demand. Discussions of managing remaining supplies to hold through the import season especially for green are in progress. This item remains in a demand exceeds.
