October 21, 2022

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Market Headlines

Seafood

October is National Seafood Month!! This is a great time to promote shrimp, lobsters, salmon, cod, tuna, catfish, pangasius/swai, mahi-mahi, tilapia, and snow crab as specials on the menu to mark the occasion.

Chicken

The chicken market continues to drop on almost all offerings. Slowing demand and bigger birds are helping to contribute to excess supply on the market.

Avian Influenza

There are no current avian influenza outbreaks to report for laying chickens.

Dairy

Cheese markets are mixed with soft retail demand and steady foodservice demand. The butter market softened with decreased cream prices. Shell egg prices have stabilized as there are no new avian influenza cases, but are still very high.

Grains / Oil

USDA reporting released last week showed soybean's bushels per acre quite a bit lower than expected, so bean prices moved higher. Less beans equals less oil, so soybean oil moved higher. Canola and palm were flat with good supply.

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

Asparagus

Mexico continues with light supplies, with XL and Jumbo almost non-existent. Peru arrivals are steady, however demand from the West has both markets climbing.

Cabbage – Green & Red

Supplies increasing over the last week to 10 days, the pricing has dropped slightly but remaining strong.

Cauliflower Alert

Market remains active but lower as supplies are up slightly. Quality is fair with some issues reported.

Cilantro Alert

Cilantro supplies have gotten much better as has quality. Market has come off some.

Cucumbers Alert

Market remains high in the West with a gap in supplies arriving from Mexico. In the East supplies have become very short with the recent hurricane winds.

Eggplant Alert

Western supplies are extremely limited from both California and Mexico. Eastern supply shorter as weather has reduced yields.

Green Beans Alert

Market prices expected to increase due short supply, strong demand, and will remain elevated this week through next month. Do not expect to see much relief until after US Thanksgiving.

Leaf, Iceberg, and Romaine

Markets remain high as less acres are available to pack, and weather impacting many fields leading to extreme demand exceeds supplies.

Mushrooms

Market active and we are still in a demand exceeds supply situations and will continue for a minimum another three to five weeks. Labor, compost issues resulting in reduced yields which continues to plague this category.

Onions 

Market is adjusting to post harvest trading. Shippers have slowed down to keep floors clean and manage production off the packing lines.

Peppers – Red & Yellow – Alert

Eastern green bell pepper supplies are shorter and extremely short in the West, with stronger markets. Red and yellow bells very short in the East and improving in the West.

Potatoes

The market seems to be stabilizing, but still trying to find the trading level. Most packers are coming out of storage and can now manage the inbound raw product flow.

Squash

East–Market creeping higher as Yellow and Zucchini crops are slowing down due to cooler weather at night.

West Coast – squash volume is gradually increasing with good demand and quality; yellow squash is a little bit more available with prices stabilizing.

Tomatoes – Alert

Markets continue to be active on all varieties from both coasts due to a lack of availability from recent hurricanes/ tropical storms.

Improvements are not expected until January.

Fruit

Avocados

Market steady to stronger, volume is good from Mexico, and demand is strong. Size curve is heavy to 48/40/60. Number 2 fruit is averaging 10% of pack out.

Citrus – Alert

Lemons –Lemon supplies are improving as new crop volume increases. Heavier to the Fancy grade. Market steady.

Oranges– The market is strong with limited supplies on all sizes. New crop Navels very limited to start but should improve in the coming weeks as more packer come online.

Limes- Weather is still a concern, experiencing rain in harvesting regions, will see tighter overall volume in the next 2-3 weeks due to weather and stage of crop.

Strawberries – Alert

Strawberries are still in a demand exceeds scenario, northern California districts are finishing up and are transitioning into the southern districts. Still not enough supply to cover current demand. Mexico is starting to become available which should help in the coming weeks to fill supply shortages. The market continues to be very active.

Pineapple

Supplies are increasing and getting back to normal levels. Market is lower.