May 5, 2023

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Market Headlines

Chicken

We are in breast season with random breast for Cinco De Mayo and portion breast for Mother’s Day and catered events. Stay ahead of fresh breast as much as you can going into the early part of May.

Shell Eggs

No new Avian Influenza Impacts reported over the last couple of weeks, we continue to monitor the situation closely.

Seafood

The snow crab prices are hovering at a 15-year low!

Dairy

Shell egg markets are down again, are we at the floor? Some analysts think so. Cheese markets remain soft,and continue to drop. Butter markets remain steady with steady supply. Cream and Culture markets are expected to slightly decrease in May.

Grains / Oil

Soybean oil markets moved a bit lower last week as speculative traders sold off much of their positions. Canola usage for biofuels has reached record highs, taking some heat away from soybean oil. Palm oil moved lower with pressure from soybean oil and Canola oil, but overall, the stocks are building for palm globally.

To learn more contact your local Sales Consultant. Market Corner Produce information reflects both US and Canadian markets. All other commodity information is based on US market data only.

Produce Market Updates

Vegetables

Arugula

Market higher and volume is improving but continuing quality issues at the field level is making it a struggle to meet demand.

Asparagus

Local regions have started; Jumbo and Large are limited on the west coast. Quality is fair in the east, better on the west coast.

Broccoli

Market has dropped as supplies improve and should be good through next week and then get dicey again as supplies become short again.

Cabbage – Green & Red

Market pushed up on both green and red expect this market to settle as new regions come online.

Cauliflower Alert

Supplies are snug still but the market is lower with a little better volume but expected to remain elevated over the next two weeks.

Cilantro & Parsely

Cilantro supplies are tight, but suppliers are keeping up to demand. Curly parsley and Italian (Flat) parsley remain shorter in supply and market is still firm.

Corn

West demand exceeds supply. California volume slowly increasing. East – Florida corn in good supply. All colors available.

Green Beans Trimmed

Weather has impacted supplies; East Coast is improving but the West is critically short until the new regions production starts arriving mid next week.

Mushrooms

Overall good supplies with very few supply disruption. The market remains steady.

Onions

This market is steady as we have a few more areas starting. Good overall quality. Still some supply disruption from South Texas.

Peppers

East – green bell supply is about to get extremely short; quality is hit and miss due to rain, and market is getting very strong. Red and Yellow are short in the east. West has peppers growing in several regions, good quality, eastern weather is impacting western market to hold steady.

Potatoes

Suppliers are doing everything they can to stretch the storage crop out to avoid a gap between the new crop. Large sizes are very limited, and that market is trending higher, smaller sizing the market is mostly steady.

Snow / Snap Peas

Market remains firm on both as the Mexico region winds down Salinas is behind but should be ramping up towards the end of next week. Demand is expected to exceed supplies until the new crop volume comes on.

Tomatoes

Round markets are stable both east and west with readily available volume out of FL & MX. Roma, grape, and cherry markets continue to improve with increasing volume both east and west. Quality on all varieties is good.

Fruit

Avocado

Good availability and a stable market this week. Might be softer next week coming out of Cinco de Mayo.

Citrus – Alert

Lemons – Central Valley peaking on large fancy, 115/95/75. Suppliers target smaller fruit from the Central Coast to compliment the Central Valley. Small sizes tighten up as demand increases. 140s and smaller getting short and market going up.

Oranges – Some suppliers anticipate starting Valencia’s early May, while others have pushed back to the end of May. Active market on 88s, 113s, and 138s.

Limes— Alert The market is adjusting, small sizes 200’s and smaller are coming down in price as volume increases. Larger sizes 175s and larger are staying high with very little supply. Expect fruit growth as Mexico gets some rain and move further into the crop.

Grapes

Demand exceeds supplies on Red’s, subbing with Black Seedless will be necessary to cover red demand. Green grapes are also becoming very short. We will see supply gaps as we work our way through May. Overall market is high.

Pineapple

Supplies are still very tight on large sizes. Conditions are improving in the growing region and peak production is anticipated to start in a few weeks. Market high but steady.