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Ai

The Source

June 4, 2012 © 2012 PRO*ACT, LLC

T H I N G S Y O U S H O U L D K N O W :

Cantaloupe remains

extremely limited

Freight: Mike McIntire Trucks in California are still tight. Trucks in the Northwest remain steady. Crude oil finally dropped below $90.00 per barrel and is currently at $83.02 per barrel. The National Average dropped again this week.

Weather: An unseasonably cold and wet storm system approaching Central California today will bring much cooler temperatures and a chance of rain over the next couple of days. Although the majority of the moisture is forecast to impact to the north and east of the Salinas Valley cool moist conditions will be the norm the front half of the week. Temperatures in the 60s to low 70s will be the norm through midweek. As this system moves east strong winds especially in Southern California are expected. Another cool but dry system moves in mid-week keeping temperatures below normal (60s to low 80s) into the weekend.

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Commodity Updates

APPLES/PEARS John Tole New York is still packing light volumes of Empires, Rome’s, and Red Delicious but will finish early this year. Washington Red is peaking on 88/100’s and the higher grades. Lower grade fruit remains tight as we approach the end of the storage season. Golden’s are heavy to the higher grades and the 88/100 sizes. Lower grade Golden’s are also limited. Granny-Smiths are peaking on extra fancy 88/100 sizes and are also limited on the lower grades. Galas are peaking on 88’s and smaller and the higher grades but are very limited. The Gala market will continue to rise as supplies dry up. Washington Fuji’s are peaking on extra fancy 72-88’s but supplies are very short as they are almost finished for the season. D‘Anjou pears continue to peak on the US#1 grade and are evenly spread across the size spectrum but supplies are limited especially on the fancy grade. Washington Bosc pears are essentially finished. There are a few Red Pears still available but they are also almost finished as well. California will have new crop Bartlett Pears at the end of July. ASPARAGUS Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is firm to start the week. Suppliers continue to have very light availability. Supplies out of Mexico continue to be very light. Production from Peru shows light availability as well. Domestic grass is expected to go until early July with one supplier in Salinas. Demand exceeds supplies. Jumbo grass is almost non-existent. AVOCADO Tim Kelley Mexican supplies are declining weekly, with decent volume through June. California volume is increasing; peaking on 60ct, with 48ct and larger in short supply. California fruit has good maturity, flavor and oil content. BELL PEPPERS Jaime Contreras Western Bells: Green bell market is very active and trending up as growers will transition from Coachella to Bakers field and other northern districts. Colored bells are steady. Good supplies, good quality from southern California.

Commodity Quality Market

Apples Excellent Higher

Asparagus Fair Steady

Avocado (Mexican) Excellent Steady Avocado (California) Excellent Steady Bell Peppers (Western) Good Steady

Bell Pepper (Eastern) Good Steady Berries: Strawberries Good Steady Berries: Raspberries Good Steady Berries: Blackberries Good Higher Berries: Blueberries Good Steady Broccoli Good Steady Carrots Good Steady Cauliflower Fair Steady Celery Fair Steady Citrus: Lemons Good Higher Citrus: Oranges Good Steady Cucumbers (Western) Good Steady Cucumbers (Eastern) Good Steady Eggplant Good Steady Red Grapes Good Lower Green Onions Fair Steady Lettuce: Leaf Good Steady Lettuce: Iceberg Fair Steady Melons: Cantaloupe Good Higher Melons: Honeydew Good Steady Onions Excellent Steady Pears Good Higher Potatoes Excellent Lower

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

Eastern Bells: Janine Baird The bell pepper market remains unchanged for the front part of the week. Demand on the east should stay strong as Nogales comes to a close. Look for this market to go up slightly heading into the weekend. BERRIES Mike Gorczyca Strawberries: The Salinas/Watsonville strawberry growing areas are getting hit with a weak late season storm system. Rain totals will be a trace to maybe a .10 of inch. This will hurt the quality of the fruit for a couple of days. The main growing area currently for strawberries is the Salinas/Watsonville areas. Strawberry counts are running large 9 – 14 count with 95% full color. Santa Maria growing area has hit their peak a few weeks ago. Strawberry counts out of this growing area are running 18-22 count with 95% full color. Quality is good to fair. The strawberry market is steady. Raspberries: Quality is being reported as good. The weather has improved and harvest numbers are slowly starting to improve. Market is steady. Blackberries: The blackberry market is still tight. Local supplies out of California have started but are very limited and will not get up to speed for a few more weeks. Quality is being reported as fair to good. Blueberries: The blueberry market has dipped due to increased volume on both coasts. The main pack sizes are 6oz and larger. Quality is reported as good. BROCCOLI Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is firm. Suppliers are not offering special pricing on crowns, as this commodity has tightened up. Bunched product is lighter in supplies. Salinas and Santa Maria are the main growing regions for this commodity. Demand looks to increase mildly throughout the week. There are no major issues to report in terms of quality. CARROTS Tim Kelley California carrot supplies remain good. Sizing of the carrots are improving with steady warm weather, with availability of jumbo size carrots improving. CAULIFLOWER Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is firm to begin the week. The main

sizing continues to be twelve counts. Demand has lightened up compared to last week. Supplies are moderate at best. Light brown spotting is being seen upon arrivals, so please be aware. Most shippers continue to deal with this issue. CELERY Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is steady. Supplies continue to be best on 24s and 30s. Smaller sizing is commanding a higher price. There have been reports of browning on the ends of bunches. Oxnard is the main area of production on this commodity. Santa Maria also has production. Salinas will not begin production for another month. CITRUS Tim Kelley Lemons: Ventura crop harvest is going at full production. Demand is exceeding supplies on 140 and 165 lemons which are normal this time of year. We will not see much relief until Chilean imports begin sometime around mid July. Oranges: The Navels production and supplies are light. Size curve is peaking on 56’s, 72’s. The Valencia orange crop continues to increase in supply with 138’s continuing to be tight. Limes: Supplies are good on all sizes. CUCUMBERS Western Cucumber: Jaime Contreras Market is unsettled and in upward trend, fancy product is light in supplies in California as demand picks up as Mexican production wraps up. Eastern Cucumbers: Janine Baird Recent heavy rains have led to quality issues in many of the cucumbers. Demand is steady, keeping this market unchanged. EGGPLANT Western Eggplant: Jaime Contreras Market is active and trending up. Supplies are lightening up. Eastern Eggplant: Janine Baird The eggplant market is holding steady as more Georgia shippers are working eggplant this week. Look for the market to have a little more flexed by the end of the week as supplies increase.

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GRAPES: Amy Grolnick The market on the red grapes is lower in Nogales and should continue to come off slowly. Coachella is still demanding a premium price on both red and green. Greens have very limited availability in Nogales on Perlettes and in Coachella Sugarones are demanding a higher price. The demand remains good with limited supply on green. GREEN ONIONS Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is firm. Supplies are light to moderate out of Mexico with most suppliers. The quality continues to have a few issues with decay upon arrival. Pencil sizing will have the best availability. Supplies are expected to be light to moderate throughout the week. LEAF LETTUCE Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco The leaf market is steady. Romaine has firmed up with some suppliers. This could be partly due to the current lettuce market. Supplies should be moderate to good throughout the week. Supplies out of Santa Maria are expected to be stronger, but Salinas will have the best availability of product. Green and red leaf will have good availability as well. LETTUCE Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco The lettuce market is firm. Most suppliers have some open lettuce to sell on the open market in contrast to last week where many were sold out to begin the week. Some suppliers are harvesting in new fields, but issues of quality continue to pop up. Decay, pink ribbing and brown outer leaves continue to be an issue. Santa Maria has production also available, with weights similar to Salinas’s lettuce. The weights on palletized lettuce will be 40-44 pounds. MELONS: Amy Grolnick Cantaloupe: Mexican cantaloupe is very limited with very few crossing. Arizona domestic fruit is also limited the weather is warmer but demand exceeds supplies. All fruit is mostly 6-9ct sizes. Honeydew: Mexican fruit continues to cross over into Nogales where both volume and quality are good. The Imperial Valley has good quality and availability of honeydew with mixed melons available as well. Arizona is getting better supplies with good quality.

ONIONS John Tole Yellow onions are mostly steady but there is some flex for volume depending on the growing area. The California desert is finished with reds and whites and is looking to get the last yellows moved. Huron, California and New Mexico are mostly steady on yellows and both areas are heavy to jumbos and mediums. Reds are steady in both areas. Whites are limited but available in Huron & New Mexico. The quality reports are good on all colors and in both the new areas. POTATOES John Tole Idaho cartons continue to slowly fall and the demand remains light. Most packers are still pushing on 80-count and smaller Burbanks. Most shippers will discount for volume orders. The Washington market is also lower and they are peaking on 60-80’s. Most Washington shippers will also flex for volume. The Colorado market is steady and they continue to peak on 50-80’s. Colorado shippers aren’t flexing so they won’t run out of product early. The russet quality has been excellent in all areas. Bakersfield will start packing new-crop russets today. Bakersfield is still packing new-crop red, gold, and white potatoes and the availability is good for all colors. California is heavy to A-size now but they have plenty of B’s also. Idaho is done packing few storage reds and golds and but they still have a few on the floor. Florida continues packing all colors and the market is steady but limited on as they are almost finished for the season. Most Florida packers are still heavy to A-size in all colors and are limited on B’s and smaller. SQUASH Western Squash: Jaime Contreras Market is settling as supplies are diminishing on both Italian and yellow straight neck squashes. Lighter supplies on both yellow s/n squash and Italian squash as some older districts run their course and/ or cease production. We suggest loading from Southern California after this week. Eastern Squash: Janine Baird With demand off due to availability farther north, the market should remain soft for the next several days. Volume and quality has been good despite recent heavy rains.

Commodity Updates continued

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Commodity Updates continued

STONE FRUIT Amy Grolnick California peaches are not in full swing with good availability and size. Both the nectarine and plum market remains strong as demands exceeds supplies. Bing cherries are going now with good availability and quality. Apricots have good size and quality. TOMATOES Jay Martini Western: Not a lot of tomato product available presently in the Mexican deal through Nogales, Arizona and McAllen, Texas. 4x4 and 4x5 vine ripes are about the only items that are being traded with any regularity. The mature green harvest in the Imperial Valley of California near Indio is picking up but is traditionally short-lived. And the main green deal in the San Joaquin valley should begin harvest around mid-June in Firebaugh up to Merced, with later start times in the northern part of the valley near Tracy & Manteca. Eastern: The Palmetto/Ruskin tomato deal is all but finished, and supplies have become short in the state of Florida overall, with a corresponding stronger market situation. Harvests are continuing in the Panhandle near Quincy & Tallahassee, but even that area has seen occasional rain from Tropical Storm Beryl. Speaking of, the new district in the Charleston, South Carolina area has also seen its share of heavy rain from Beryl, but it is not known yet if quality or yield will be affected. VALUE ADDED Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco

The lettuce quality was expected to be better, but decay issues are surfacing again. Availability will be moderate to start the week. The Romaine supplies are good. Broccoli supplies are ample for all orders. The cauliflower supplies should be moderate for the entire week. Occasional brown spotting has been reported on this commodity.

WATERMELON: Jaime Contreras

Markets are steady. Continues demand exceeds on s/less watermelon. Current availability on Seedless watermelons is light but, supplies are improving as Northern growing district is in full production. Most availability will be in bins on s/less. Lighter production from Northern Growing areas is

keeping FOB’s strong. Availability on seeded watermelon is sporadic as those growing districts wind down in.