DLJ Produce

Table Grapes

Red Seedless

Continue to promote on red seedless. The biggest arrival period for the end of the season is now up to the April 10^th marketing order. This will allow for good promotable volume for at least a 3 week time period into mid-April. Timco, Sweet Celeb and Crimson will be the main players to finish out the season. Quality is becoming a concern, as there will be a split quality market and good fruit that will carry through the retail chain will still demand a premium on the market. Expect post-marketing order arrivals to dwindle and we MAY see a very different market in late April, with a lack of availability and short market waiting for Mexico to start the harvest.

Green Seedless

Green grape arrivals have slowed to a crawl, typically when we see the biggest arrival volume of the season with storage green seedless that builds inventory for April. This lack of arrivals spells a telltale sign for April. Some supplies of green seedless still remain in the market, but look to clean up over the next 10 days. Any storage fruit coming in, that is solid on quality, will demand a really high premium going into mid-April. The crop will not be able to fill the pipeline and expect an early finish, leading up to a gap going into Mexico.

Black Seedless

Like the green seedless, the black grape crop failed poorly against the rains. Still, some arrivals will continue to hit over the next couple weeks and allow some light to moderate supplies to be carried. Okay to continue pushing on black seedless, but expect supplies to clean up in April and finish on quality. Especially pending how quality arrives.

Red Globe

Peruvian globes are finishing quick, as we reach the end of that crop. Chile will pick up the pieces and start to land some fruit over the next couple of weeks. Expect FOB’s to be stable, especially due to the lower volume caused by rains in Chile.

Tree Fruit South America

Peaches

The peach deal is on its final legs. Last arrivals are hitting this week and will wind down quickly to get out of the way of Central CA started. The market will be firm and stable due to the lack of current inventory going into the finish. Time to pull the plug and wait for CA harvest in late April / early May.

Nectarines

Ample supplies of yellow nectarine remain; especially on volume fill smaller sized fruit, but the tide looks to be turning. Importers are looking to jettison old lots and get more current to avoid quality issues on rained on fruit. Arrival volume over the next 10 days is stopping as harvest has reached the finish. This will allow for nectarines to be available for the next 2 weeks but then come to a grinding halt once inventories clean up.

Plums

Plum arrivals have been weak here at the home stretch due to weather. January rains caused significant splitting in red plums and the industry is seeing relatively light numbers. Black plums are in better volume and will allow for promotion through the end of the month, stretching slightly into April. But still, the decreased volume will create an early finish to the crop as movement pushed through the current arriving volume. Expect a mid-April finish, at the latest, creating a gap before CA starts.

Tree Fruit Central CA

Peaches

Maturity continues on early stone fruit trees, but some cooler weather and cloudy skies may slow down maturity for a few days. The harvest time period looks to be slightly behind the average on peach, nectarine and apricot, but crop volume is expected to be good. Rain and hail storms in early March don’t look to have too bad of an impact outside of some natural thinning. We expect to start seeing the first early harvests in Kettleman and Arvin on both tree fruit and cherries to start by mid-April. But volume isn’t going to hit until Central CA starts in the first/second week of May. Expect a slow, but steady start and then to be off to the races in May.

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