PRO* ACT The Sour ce

AUAI

The Source

February 20, 2013 © 2013 PRO*ACT, LLC

T H I N G S Y O U

S H O U L D

K N O W :

COMMODITY ALERT:

Strawberries are in a demand exceeds supply situation

Cantaloupe and

Honeydew continue to run very large

Small Granny-Smith apples are extremely

short

Weather: Tim Lynch

The first and most powerful storm in a series of Pacific storm systems out west, will bring widespread rain, strong winds and cold temperatures throughout the Southwestern growing regions today. Although rainfall totals in the desert regions (trace up to ¼ inch) will be light, strong winds and cold temperatures will be the main concern as these systems move through the region. Freezing morning temperatures are expected (especially in coldest desert locations) to impact the desert region once again Thursday morning into the weekend. Long range forecast keep the storm track open with cold, dry systems rolling through the region through February with brief afternoon warm ups in between storm systems. Temperatures will remain below seasonal norms (50s to low 60s) for the most part minus the brief warm up between storms.

Freight: Mike McIntire

Trucks in California continue to be plentiful and should

remain that way for the near future. Trucks in the

Northwest are steady. Crude oil remained steady and is

currently 94.37 per barrel. The national average on diesel

fuel continues to rise and is currently 4.157, up .20 from

this time a year ago. Diesel price in California is up as

well and is currently 4.361 per gallon.

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Commodity Updates

APPLES/PEARS John Tole New York continues to pack Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Red Rome’s, McIntosh, and Empires. The availability is fair and all varieties are still heavy larger fruit except the Mac’s which have ranged in size. The larger New York shippers are still expecting to pack through March. Washington Reds are peaking on extra-fancy 88/100’s. The lower grades and smaller size reds remain short. Some suppliers are still packing hail-grade reds. Golden Delicious is also heavy to extra-fancy 88/100’s. Lower grade Golden availability remains fair on 88’s and larger and light on the smaller sizes. Granny-Smiths are peaking on 64-80’s and the higher grades. Small fruit and the lower grades are in a demand exceeds supplies situation. Galas are heavy to size 80-100’s and the Washington extra-fancy grade. Gala demand remains very strong! Washington Fuji’s are heavy to 64/72/80’s and are producing more of the Washington extra-fancy grade. Fuji volume is up over last year though and the deals continue with this variety. Pink-Lady’s, Cameo’s, Jonagolds, Braeburns, Rome’s, Jazz, and the other varietals are still available. Washington D’Anjou's are still peaking on the larger sizes and the US#1 grade. Washington Bartlett’s are still producing mostly us#1 110’s but supplies are light. Bosc and red pears are still available. ASPARAGUS Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market continues on a steady course. The availability out of Mexico continues to gain strength with most sizing. Jumbo sizing has even picked up in production. Peruvian grass is available in LA, as well. If loading is an option in Miami, Peruvian grass is available at lower fob costs compared to California. Supplies look to be good throughout the week. AVOCADO Tim Kelley

Mexico continues with good volume and good demand and they remain to major supplier and supplies are expected to continue very good from Mexico. California is starting to harvest and slowly increase in volume. BELL PEPPERS Western Bells: Mike Cantu Green bell market is unsettled; indications market is moving upward on large fruit. Adequate supplies on choice and smaller fruit.

Commodity Quality Market

Apples Excellent Steady

Asparagus Good Steady

Avocado (Mexican) Excellent Steady

Avocado (California)

Bell Peppers (Western)

Good Steady

Bell Pepper (Eastern) Good Steady

Berries: Strawberries Good Higher

Berries: Raspberries Good Steady

Berries: Blackberries Fair Lower

Berries: Blueberries Good Steady

Broccoli Good Higher

Carrots Good Steady

Cauliflower Good Higher

Celery Good Lower

Citrus: Lemons Good Steady

Citrus: Oranges Good Steady

Cucumbers (Western) Good Steady

Cucumbers (Eastern) Good Steady

Eggplant Good Steady

Grapes, Green Good Steady

Grapes, Red Good Steady

Green Onions Fair Steady

Lettuce: Leaf Fair Higher

Lettuce: Iceberg Fair Higher

Melons: Cantaloupe Good Steady

Melons: Honeydew Good Higher

Onions Good Steady

Pears Good Steady

Potatoes Excellent Steady

Squash (Western) Good Steady

Squash (Eastern) Good Steady

Stone Fruit Good Steady

Tomatoes (Western) Good Steady

Tomatoes (Eastern) Fair Steady

Watermelon Good Steady

Commodities at a glance…

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Commodity Updates continued

Z

Open field colored Red bell market is settling. Crossings ought to increase as weather improves and new acreage is coming online. Gold bells are indicating an upward trend in FOB’s as some are transitioning and gapping. Eastern Bells: Janine Baird This market is coming off a bit this week as demand moves out west. Quality and volume out of Florida are good and should continue to be so through the week. BERRIES Mike Gorczyca Strawberries: California had a fast moving cold front move through the growing areas Tuesday night bringing light rain followed with very cold temperatures. The cold temperatures will be the main issue as this will stop the fruit from coloring up. The long range forecast is calling for cool weather into late next week then a warming trend starting up on the weekend. Look for supplies out of California to be limited going into the weekend. Market is firm. Florida had to run water over the weekend due to very cold temperatures in the growing area. All growers will be back in their fields today. Harvest will be light. The forecast is calling for a warming trend into next week. Market is firm. Raspberries: Supplies will continue to be light for all shippers till the start of March. Market is firm but steady. Quality is being reported as good with a few fair lots showing up. Blackberries: Supplies are good with light demand is causing a weaker market. Quality is being reported as good. Blueberries: Good supplies and moderate demand has this market steady. Quality is being reported as good to fair depending on the lot. The main pack size is switching into 11oz with a few 6oz being packed. Supplies will start to improve over the next couple of weeks. BROCCOLI Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco

This market continues to gain strength on bunched product as well as crowns. A few suppliers have walked in Monday morning sold out on all items. Santa Maria production is light and Yuma has hit a gap. Expect pricing to increase throughout the week. The quality is good, overall. CARROTS Tim Kelley California carrot supplies are steady. Demand remains good and market is steady.

CAULIFLOWER Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is stronger. Pricing is up with all shippers as supplies have tightened up. With the cold front that is currently going through Yuma, expect availability to be light for the rest of the week. Expect pricing to increase steadily for the rest of the week. There have been a few issues of brown spotting seen upon arrivals. CELERY Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is softer. Supplies have picked up a little in Santa Maria, Oxnard, and Yuma. The smaller sizes, mainly the 36s have a little better availability, compared to the larger sizing. The supplies out of all areas are expected to be light to moderate throughout the week. CITRUS Tim Kelley Lemons: The Desert crop is finished for this season. The Ventura and the Central Valley are now the lemon producing areas. Volume is good on all sizes. Quality is good. Oranges: The Navel crop volume is good. Fruit quality and flavor is very good. Fruit is currently peaking heavy to the Fancy grade and on 88’s/72’s/113’s, with 56’s and larger a little tight. Limes: Supplies are fair with some quality issues showing. Cold temps in the growing regions of Mexico have slowed growth. The market is firm. CUCUMBERS Western Cucumber: Mike Cantu Market is very unsettled. We are experiencing from all indications a gap due to bloom drop resulting from the last cold snap a few weeks back. We anticipate better supplies by week’s end. Current market is extreme demand exceeds. Eastern Cucumbers: Janine Baird Cool weather in Honduras has caused the cuke market to tighten back up. A tightening market out west has lead to strong demand and high prices. EGGPLANT Western Eggplant: Mike Cantu Market appears steady. Adequate supplies for current market demand. Eastern Eggplant: Janine Baird The eggplant market is loosening up with

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supplies and quality improving daily. Demand is steady. GRAPES: Amy Grolnick Red grape prices are all over the board based on quality. Shippers are pricing out product with major quality problems at open prices, to very nice clean fruit in the 20’s and anywhere in between, all based on quality. This week the east coast is getting in a lot of rained on fruit and by the end of this week the west will be receiving it in as well. Quality problems will include splits and soft wet berries at the low end of the pricing. Green grapes remain limited with pricing in the low 30’s. Globes with good availability, blacks are becoming more limited with higher prices. GREEN ONIONS Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is steady. Supplies continue to be light out of Mexico. Overall, supplies will be light throughout the week as crop issues continue in the growing regions of Mexico. Escalated pricing is in effect on all contracts. There continues to be issues of yellowing, slime and decay being reported upon arrivals. This is an industry wide issue. LEAF LETTUCE Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is turning around. Supplies have tightened up on romaine. Blister and peel are still being reported on all romaine items. 8-10 leaves of blister and 2-3 leaves with brown blister is a common characteristic that suppliers are dealing with. Green and red leaf is firm. Blister and peel continue to be growing issues that all suppliers are still dealing with. With the cold front headed through Yuma over these next four days, problems in quality will continue. Escalated pricing continues on all on all romaine items. LETTUCE Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This commodity is stronger. Pricing as expected is stronger with all suppliers the weights on the palletized lettuce have been averaging 39-42 #s in Yuma. There have been complaints on mechanical damage, pink ribbing, and epidermal peel. The complaints however have been less compared to past weeks. The desert region continues to be the main area of production for this commodity.

MELONS: Amy Grolnick Cantaloupe: Yields are above normal so there’s good availability. However most of the fruit is very large. East coast has good availability. The west coast has limited availability. Honeydew: Offshore and Mexican fruit is limited. The market is very firm. ONIONS John Tole Idaho, Oregon, and Washington are lower again and there are volume deals on all sizes. The demand remains relatively light. Both Washington and Idaho/Oregon are still peaking on jumbo yellows. Mexican sweet yellows are steady. Mexico is quoting Colossal and smaller. Northwest Red onions are slightly lower due to the light demand. Despite the lower market the storage red supplies remain relatively low in the northwest. Mexico is still crossing a few reds. Whites are also lower again in the northwest. Mexican whites are available in Texas but that market is also off. The onion quality has been good in both areas and all colors. POTATOES John Tole The Idaho potato market is steady on all sizes and the demand is light. Several Idaho packers are still offering volume deals to generate movement. Most suppliers are packing Burbanks and only a few still have Norkotahs. Idaho continues to peak on 70-count and larger. Washington is steady on all sizes and they remain heavy to the larger counts. Colorado is also steady to lower on counts and they are also peaking on the larger sizes. The russet quality has been good to excellent in all areas. Bakersfield, California continues packing reds, Gold’s and Whites but this is the last week on whites. All three California varieties are heavier to A-size. Washington, Wisconsin, and North Dakota continue packing red & gold potatoes and they are all mostly steady. All areas have better availability on A-size. North Dakota & Washington are coming to the end of the season. Florida is packing red and gold potatoes and they are heavier to A-size. The Florida market is steady to lower. The colored potato quality has been fairly good to excellent in all areas.

Commodity Updates continued

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Commodity Updates continued

SQUASH Western Squash: Mike Cantu Market continues unsettled on both Italian and Yellow S/n and both. Supplies have been interrupted as the last and latest weather disturbances will and have hampered production in some growing areas. Supplies will continue light for at least 1-2 weeks. Indications are some areas did experience cold weather damage but, for the most part production has slowed until weather returns to its seasonal averages. Eastern Squash: Janine Baird Yellow and green continue to experience strong markets as temps in south Florida drop to just above freezing. Production should be slow for the next several days. STONE FRUIT Amy Grolnick There are both Hichiya and Fuyu persimmons and with limited quantity. Off shore peaches, plums, and nectarines are available with good supplies. Cherries are done for the season. CA Cherries will start around May 1. TOMATOES Aaron Aliotti

Western: Cooler weather south of the boarder

has also caused volume to slow at Mexico crossings last week. With a reduction in shipments coming from Mexico and demand increasing, the market has strengthened a bit this week. Roma Tomatoes are slightly higher. The last week of February is expected to be very active with the proposed increases in pricing coming from the revisions to the Suspension Agreement due to take effect March 4

th.

Eastern: The combination of recent rain and cool weather has caused some strengthening in the market this week. Quality fruit is continually reported from Florida with smaller sized tomatoes in fewer quantities. Early March should show an increase in volume, however is expected to drop off by April due to the recent weather that has come through the Immokalee region which has caused some slowing to production. VALUE ADDED Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco

The supplies on lettuce are lighter, but there is enough to fill the processors needs. The Romaine supplies have decreased with many suppliers. Broccoli supplies will be light throughout the week. Processors will be

attempting to buy fields for this commodity. The cauliflower supplies have tightened up with most suppliers.

WATERMELON Mike Cantu Market is extremely unsettled and on an

upward trend. Demand exceeds on s/less watermelon. Jalisco has entered new acreage and some growing areas are experiencing rain related issues. Production is off by nearly sixty percent. The North districts are expected to start first weeks of March. Until then supplies will be extremely light. Availability on seeded watermelon is sporadic.