DLJ Produce

Table Grapes

Red Seedless

The red seedless crop will solder on, with growers still picking Flame seedless across the Central Valley, as well as getting ready transition into new variety. Expect some Krissy and Scarlet Royal to start harvest by the end of the week. Pricing structure will continue to adjust slightly to continue pushing for retail ad movement. Expect quality and size structure to pick up as we move out of Flame into newer varieties. Promote now through December.

Green Seedless

The green seedless crop will continue on as well, picking through multiple varieties that are bringing volume. Sugraone will reach their tail end, while growers look to pack heavier on some later Ivory Fields and possibly start Valley Pearl variety. Quality and size are very solid, so far surviving the recent heat wave intact. Expect continues pressure from the heat only allowing for half days of harvesting. Pricing structure will push lower to hit an equilibrium point, but much higher then typical due to increased production cost for the crop.

Black Seedless

Black seedless will continue to gain momentum, as growers pick both Summer Royal and Midnight Beauty consistently together. Quality will remain strong and continue to allow for a good item to mix in along with the red and green. We are still about a month away from Autumn Royals starting, but no gap is expected and should carry steadily through.

Red Globe

Red Globes from Mexico will remain in the game, with some fruit transferred to Central CA to load out with other colors. FOB pricing remaining solid due to demand and additional freight cost in the product. Expect another 7 – 10 days of Mexico supply, then waiting for CA transition. We may see a small gap, as the earliest fields from Delano are not expected until the second week of August.

Tree Fruit – Imports

Peaches

Continued strain on the yellow peach crop is keeping demand very high. East is still struggling with the last of their crop volume, putting the pressure on California. Last of the Zee Lady variety yellow have been harvested, while Snow Princess will make up the bulk of the whites. Size is peaking very large on current harvest. Expect no relief in sight on either high demand or high prices, that look to carry all the way through the crop.

Nectarines

August Bright yellow and August Pearl white will make up the majority of the nectarines on inventory. The pricing structure remains very high, but availability is a tiny bit loser then yellow peach, just simply due to demand. Expect good supplies to continue to come on the nectarine crop for the next 4 – 5 weeks… but little change in pricing structure due to good movement. Focus on pushing through the August varieties as the final peak of the season, with fruit size continuing to peak on 48’s and larger.

Plums / Pluots

The plum crop will continue on with volume, but expect a few gaps between varieties. This is being seen now as the Friar and Owen T black plum varieties clean up and leave a little space between next variety start. Still continue to focus on red and black plums for the next couple months. Pluots are all in, peaking on Dapple Dandy variety as well as a mix of 5+ other varieties currently harvesting. Good time to focus on pluots and add additional items to the mix.

Import Citrus

Clementines

Clementine arrivals have picked up slightly, with a combination of Peru moving into Murcott variety, as well as Chile and Uruguay still focusing on conventional clementines. Still, demand is high and due to ocean freight costs, FOB pricing will stay much higher then typical for this time of season due to lower crop volume. Now is a decent time to focus on clementine movement, but we will not see the weak bottom typically seen before the Murcott transition. Chile still continues to report being 34 – 40% off on total crop volume, with this mainly being the back end. The Murcott crop looks to be most severely impacted by the recent freeze. Late August through October could be very troublesome for the industry and expect to see higher FOB pricing on all pack styles then, as we expect to face a late season demand-exceeds-supply market.

Oranges

Navel volume has finally started to arrive from both Chile and South Africa, but in just enough volume to start filling the pipeline. Demand still greatly exceeds supply, but retailers are going to be finally able to get navel oranges back on the shelf. Overall, crop volume is expected to remain tight through the entire season as Chile is down roughly 12% and will affect arrival volume to both coasts. FOB pricing remaining stable due to good demand. Expect to see a small peak of arrivals in mid-August, but then lighten back up quickly going into October and create a gap on the back end before CA start.

Lemons

Lemon volume remains very light in consideration of previous seasons. Even with some Argentinian arrivals to us, along with Uruguay, Chile, and Peru, supplies are lighter then expected. The West Coast will see roughly 2-week gaps between each vessel and this will help to keep the movement on lemons solid and inventories current. Arrivals will continue for the next 3 months… but may prove to be shorter then expected on total crop volume arriving to the US in 2022.

DLJ Produce is home to the finest and freshest produce nationwide. Our customers depend on our produce 365 days a year coast to coast. If you want to discuss fruits, vegetables, cold storage, organic produce or simply want to chat, give us a call today.