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Market Trends Updated 3/8/2010

	Lettuce Leaf Lettuce: The leaf market is more active with all growers. A few growers have had issues on romaine to where certain fields were passed on due to quality. Yields are less and romaine looks to get active throughout the week. Romaine and romaine hearts are showing fringe burn lightly. Most growers are having this issue. Green and red leaf has been clean, but pricing is getting stronger. The market is higher. Lettuce: The lettuce market is stronger. Huron production will start with a few suppliers in 2-3 weeks and Yuma will continue through the month of March with most growers. There have been some issues of pink ribbing, discoloration, and mechanical damage seen upon arrival. This again is related to the past rains in the desert region. Growers have started to pass on fields due to quality. Yields are lighter. The market is higher.
	Strawberries Strawberries: California Strawberry growing areas received 2 to 3 inches of rain over the weekend. The forecast is for a chance of rain on Tuesday then again a better chance of rain on the weekend. Growers are currently stripping and monitoring these fields with minimal volume being harvested. Quality will be problematic with white shoulder, bruise, pin rot, mold and water damage likely to be prevalent. Market is higher. Florida had to run water over to weekend due to very cold temps in the growing area. Heavy rain is in the forecast for Tuesday. Market is active with limited supply.
	Broccoli This market is stronger on bunched product and crowns are very light in supplies. Most growers are starting this week with enough crowns for contract and little to sell on the open. Growers will be light throughout the week. The quality continues to be good, coming out of Santa Maria, Yuma, and Scottsdale. Product is available in Gilroy for these commodities. The market is higher.
	Tomatoes Eastern: Demand continues to exceed supply. Florida continues to be a non-factor in the tomato supply chain. There has been significant crop loss from the early freeze and supplies out of Florida will be down and won’t rebound probably until spring. It is looking like the Florida crop may get back into production around late March possibly April. The market is higer. Western: Demand continues to exceed supply. Supplies out of both Nogales and San Diego are drastically diminished due to recent past rain in the Mexican growing areas and a strong Mexican market. Growers are still trying to get supplies and the pipe line filled again, but it is slow going. Slowly maturing fruit due to the weather is holding growers back. We could see an upswing in production in 2 weeks weather permitting. The market is higher.
	Berries Blueberries: Supplies are good with a weak but steady market on both Coast. Quality is improving. Look for this market to get very active in the next 10 days due to the earthquake in Chile. Quality is being reported as good. Market is firm but steady. Raspberries: Supplies are still limited with Driscoll being the main supplier. Quality is being reported as good. Market is firm but steady. Blackberries: Blackberry supplies are very limited with fair quality and firm market. The main area where Blackberries are coming from now is Mexico. Over the last few weeks they have been receiving lots of rain. This is the main factor on the quality and supplies. The market is higher.
	Summer & Zucchini Squash Western Squash: Mexico production is steady with demand holding strong. Production still looks to improve over the next couple of weeks. The market is steady. Eastern Squash: Most Florida shippers are bringing squash in out of the West just to try to cover orders. Yellow squash continues to be extremely hard to come by and poor in quality. Strong winds throughout South and Central Florida will result in quality issues with their domestic supplies for a few more weeks. The market is steady.
	Grapes The grape market was already struggling with short supply of red and green seedless grapes. The devastating earthquake that hit Chile this last weekend has most shippers scrambling and not taking any new orders until they have figured out what they have and what is on the water. We will have better information towards the end of the week as to the effect of the earthquake and the impact on the grape market/availability. Black seedless now are also in short supply and the only thing that seems to have any availability are the seeded red globes. The market will definitely go up on what product is available. The market is higher.
	Peppers Western Green Bells and Colored Bells: Bell peppers continue to get tighter and will continue so for the near future. Bell pepper supplies from Mexico look to improve as we move into March. East coast demand remains the driving force on the market. The spring crop for eastern bells looks to start in April. The market is higher. Eastern Bells: Almost all of Florida’s pepper supplies are currently coming out of Mexico. Long stretches of below average temps, rains and wind have all but depleted local supplies. As Florida begins to get back into pepper by the end of the week and the prices rise in Nogales, we will see the Florida market begin to gradually ease up. Quality has improved from poor to fair. The market is steady.
	Cucumbers Western Cucumber: Mainland Mexico production continues with fair to lighter supplies. Some growers are gaping or will be gapping as they transition between old and new fields over the next 2 to 3 weeks. The market is higher. Eastern Cucumbers: The off shore supplies will continue to steadily come in. A rising market in Nogales will keep the market strong. Quality is fair. The market is higher.
	Melons Cantaloupe: Honduran and Guatemalan product are both now coming into the US. Unfortunately Guatemala has started out very slow. Honduras had a small gap last week which has made for light supplies this week. Next week look for better supplies to be coming in from both areas. Florida product is coming into both Pompano and Manatee. There is product on the West Coast out of the LA area and some fruit coming into New Jersey as well. The market is higher. Honeydew: Offshore fruit is still arriving into Florida, California and New Jersey with volume supplies still mainly in 5’s and 6’s. Product quality is good. Nogales is getting Mexican fruit in with good availability and quality. The market is higher.
	Asparagus This asparagus market is steady. Supplies are lighter on jumbo sizing from Mexico and California. Peruvian product is still available on the East and West Coast. The Quality of Mexican product continues to be good. California production can be loaded in Salinas and Yuma. The market is steady.
	Stone Fruit Growers are looking to move on Chilean stone fruit they have since they currently have little else to sell. Peaches, Nectarines, Red and Black plums are all available with good quality. The market is steady.
	Carrots California carrots are coming out of Bakersfield for the next week or two weeks with good supplies. Yield and quality are good and there should not be any gaps for the next couple of months. The market is steady.