PRO* ACT The Sour ce

AUAI

The Source

November 12, 2012 © 2012 PRO*ACT,

LLC LLC

T H I N G S Y O U

S H O U L D

K N O W :

COMMODITY ALERT:

Stem strawberries are very limited due

to small sizing currently in California

Industry wide problem with quality

and supplies of strawberries

shipping out of California.

Stone fruit done for the season

Melons are still limited

Washington apple demands are very strong as the early school demand has

started, so stay ahead!

Weather: Tim Lynch

Temperatures in the Yuma region expected to be in the 80,s through Friday with no chance of precipitation. Evenings will be cool with temperatures dropping in the 50’s. The Salinas Valley and Oxnard regions will be very similar to each other for the week. Temperatures are expected in the 60s-70s for the week with lows in the 50s. No rain again is in the forecast. Winds are expected to be light in all the growing regions for the week.

Freight: Mike McIntire

Trucks in California have tightened up and will remain tight thru the Thanksgiving holiday. Trucks in the Northwest and Idaho remain tight and will most likely remain that way throughout the fall season. Crude oil remained steady and is currently 85.87 per barrel. The national average on diesel remained steady last week at 4.010 per gallon and should trend steady when it comes out later today.

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Commodity Updates

APPLES/PEARS John Tole New York continues to pack Gala’s, Empires, Golden Delicious, Macouns, McIntosh, and Red Delicious. They also have a few Cortlands, Staymens, Crispins, and Romes. All New York varieties are large except the McIntosh which is small. Washington Reds are still peaking on 88/100’s and the Premium grade. Small lower grade reds remain limited. Golden delicious are peaking on size 88/100’s and the Washington extra-fancy grade. There is some lower grade Golden’s available. Washington Granny-Smith is heavy to the Premium grade and size 72’s & 80’s. The lower grade Granny availability has improved. California is cleaning up their Granny-Smiths. Washington Gala’s are producing more of the Washington extra-fancy grade and are peaking on 80/88/100’s. The demand for small lower grade Gala’s still exceeds supplies. Washington Fuji’s are heavy to 64/72/80’s and are producing more of the Washington extra-fancy grade. Pink-lady’s, Cameo’s, Jonagolds, Braeburns, Romes, and Jazz are also available in Washington. California still has Pink Ladies and they are peaking on extra-fancy 100/113’s. Washington Bartletts are still producing mostly 110 and larger fruit. Washington D’anjous is also heavier to the larger sizes. Bosc and red pears are also available. ASPARAGUS Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco The market is stronger. Demand exceeds supply. Jumbo sizing is not available in Salinas. Peruvian jumbos can be purchased in LA if desired. Standard sizing is the most readily available. The pricing on Mexican grass is still very comparable to Peruvian product. Mexican grass will continue to be light to moderate in supplies throughout the week. AVOCADO Tim Kelley Mexico’s new main crop is crossing in good volume. California volume is finishing for some shippers as see the end of California’s season. California fruit is bringing a premium market price. Mexican fruit remains aggressively priced. BELL PEPPERS Western Bells: Jaime Contreras Green bell market is on an upward trend. Expect lighter supplies on larger fruit as some growers are sizing down on current fields

Commodity Quality Market

Apples Excellent Steady

Asparagus Good Higher

Avocado (Mexican) Excellent Steady

Avocado (California) Excellent Steady

Bell Peppers (Western)

Good Steady

Bell Pepper (Eastern) Good Steady

Berries: Strawberries Fair Higher

Berries: Raspberries Good Steady

Berries: Blackberries Fair Steady

Berries: Blueberries Good Steady

Broccoli Good Steady

Carrots Good Steady

Cauliflower Fair Higher

Celery Good Higher

Citrus: Lemons Good Steady

Citrus: Oranges Good Lower

Cucumbers (Western) Good Steady

Cucumbers (Eastern) Good Steady

Eggplant Good Steady

Red Grapes Good Higher

Green Onions Fair Steady

Lettuce: Leaf Good Steady

Lettuce: Iceberg Fair Steady

Melons: Cantaloupe Good Steady

Melons: Honeydew Good Steady

Onions Excellent Higher

Pears Good Steady

Potatoes Excellent Steady

Squash (Western) Good Steady

Squash (Eastern) Good Steady

Stone Fruit n/a n/a

Tomatoes (Western) Good Steady

Tomatoes (Eastern) Fair Steady

Watermelon Good Steady

Commodities at a glance…

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Commodity Updates continued

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and/or transitioning to other districts which will affect availability. Expected weather disturbance in California may affect harvesting and production. Light crossings through Nogales; expect increased volume next couple of weeks. *Colored Red bell market is on an upward trend. Growers are anticipating slightly lighter production as older districts are playing out and cold weather passes through. Coachella is starting up first/ second week of November. We expect cooler temperatures and some rain which will slow some harvesting. Extreme Demand exceeds market. Gold bells are settling but, they continue demand exceeds supplies. Eastern Bells: Janine Baird Florida is starting to ramp up their pepper volume as both south and central Florida are working pepper. Quality has been excellent on the new crop pepper and remains good in Georgia as well. Demand is steady and prices should remain at the current levels for the better part of the week. BERRIES Mike Gorczyca Strawberries: Light rain in California late last week has hurt the quality and harvest numbers of strawberries the start of this week. Bruising, light decay, green tips and white shoulders are still showing up in the packs. Sizing is still small with counts in the low to mid twenties. Stem Strawberries are very limited and will be for the next couple of weeks maybe longer. Market is firming. The next growing area to come into play is Mexico which has started in a light way. Quality is being reported as good to fair. Market is firm with light supplies. This product will be shipping out of McAllen, Texas. Raspberries: Supplies and demand are moderate with fair to good quality being shipped currently. Supplies are being harvested in Mexico, Oxnard and Watsonville currently. Market is steady. Blackberries: Rain in the growing area has interrupt supplies slightly. Quality is being reported as fair to good. Market is steady. Blueberries: Supplies have improved for some and other still have limited supplies on both coasts. Market is steady. Quality is being reported as good. The main pack size is switching to 6oz with a few 4.4oz being packed.

BROCCOLI Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is firm. Expect pricing to get stronger by the middle of the week. Salinas’ continues to be the strongest area producing this commodity. Santa Maria has production if desired. Overall, the quality has been favorable with little to no major issues worth reporting. Pricing is competitive with most suppliers. Yuma production will be mostly non-existent until December. CARROTS Tim Kelley

California carrot supplies remain good. Demand is better as other growing regions finish for the season. Market is showing some firming CAULIFLOWER Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is stronger with all suppliers. Supplies are light to moderate at best. Demand is up. Supplies continue to be heaviest to twelve and sixteen count. There have been complaints of brown spotting. As the Salinas season winds down, there could be more issues. Suppliers are watching product as closely as possible. CELERY Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is stronger. Smaller sizing, 36s and smaller continue to have the lightest availability. The supplies on 24 counts have tightened up with many suppliers. Salinas and Santa Maria production continues. Oxnard’s production has picked up. The reports on quality have been good out of the Oxnard region. CITRUS Tim Kelley Lemons: Ventura crop harvest is done. The Desert crop volume is good. Size continues to be heavy on the smaller fruit (140 and smaller). Quality is good and improved availability for larger fruit is coming. Oranges: The Navel crop has started and volume will continue to increase as more shippers begin packing. Fruit is testing well, but color is slow to come. Nighttime temps are dropping which will bring on color faster. Fruit is currently packing on heavy to the Fancy grade and peaking on the smaller sizes. 72’s and larger are still limited. Limes: Supplies are good on all sizes.

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CUCUMBERS Western Cucumber: Jaime Contreras Market is unsettled; production has increased as well as new acreage coming online. Cucumbers have started crossing through Nogales fair to good quality though, has kept market up on good lots. This week’s cool weather will slow down production in the Mexican growing areas. Weather on the west coast has also hampered production and harvesting. Eastern Cucumbers: Janine Baird Florida is into good volume on cukes now and Georgia is still working. Demand remains steady and market should remain at the current levels for the better part of the week. EGGPLANT Western Eggplant: Jaime Contreras Market is unsettled and we anticipate an upward tick in the Market. Expect lighter supplies on large fruit due to field production sizing down. Light supplies crossing through Nogales; excellent quality on first crossings. Cool weather will slow down production in both Southern California and Mexican growing areas. Eastern Eggplant: Janine Baird Georgia is finishing up with their eggplant for the season and Florida’s cooled weather has brought about a very slow start to their eggplant season. With limited supplies and good demand, we should see this market stay strong. GRAPES: Amy Grolnick The market on the red grapes has leveled off but product is still limited. The two tiered market continues with 50-60% color and less and 85-95% color fruit on reds. Greens continue to be limited and we may see a gap in the coming weeks. Brazilian green should come into the West Coast mid November. Black Seedless and Red globe both have good supplies. GREEN ONIONS Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is firm. Suppliers have had good production out of Mexico. We have a split market currently as the pencil onions seem to be readily available while the larger sizes are tighter.

LEAF LETTUCE Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco The Salinas Valley has production that will last throughout the week for those desiring to load in Salinas. Yuma, Santa Maria and Huron will also have production depending on the shipper. Sizes and weights are reported to be good. The weather has been ideal for growing. This market is steady. LETTUCE Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco This market is firm. Weights on palletized continue to range from 40-44#S. Issues on lettuce continue to center on brown butts, discoloration and ribbing. Seeder has lessened. Santa Maria has fallen of considerably in production. Huron and Yuma are the main growing areas for this commodity. Huron is where most of the lettuce is being harvested. MELONS: Amy Grolnick Cantaloupe: The desert is going with good availability and a firm market. It’s a mixed bag with some shippers in larger fruit and some peaking to 12’s and smaller. There are fewer grower/shippers in the mix than have been in the past in the desert. Nogales has Mexican fruit coming over the boarder but very limited and peaking to 9’s. Honeydew: There is better availability out of Nogales with the Arizona area remaining limited. Most fruit is peaking to 5’s and larger and remains limited. ONIONS John Tole Idaho/Oregon & Washington are higher on colossal through medium yellows and are steady on supers. The Thanksgiving pull has started so demand is slightly stronger. The tightest item right now though is transportation! Red onions are steady in both areas and Washington is still cheaper on jumbo reds. Medium reds are short in both districts. Whites are steady in all areas with good supplies available. The quality has been good in all areas and on all colors. POTATOES John Tole Idaho remains steady on both varieties. Idaho continues to peak on 70’s and larger, so the bigger counts are still very available while consumer bags and the smaller counts are short due to the Thanksgiving pull. The

Commodity Updates continued

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Commodity Updates continued

Washington market is steady on all sizes but the better availability is on 70’s and larger. Colorado is producing more of the larger counts as well and is more limited on 80’s and smaller. Colorado is higher this week on 80’s and smaller and will continue to follow the Idaho market. The russet quality has been good to excellent in all areas. Stockton, California is still packing whites and golds. Both varieties are still heavier to A-size. Washington, Wisconsin, and Minnesota continue packing pack new-crop reds & golds and they are all mostly steady and also have better availability in the A-size. Idaho reds and golds are also both peaking on A-size and the availability is increasing. The colored potato quality has been fairly good to excellent in all areas. SQUASH Western Squash: Jaime Contreras Market is an upward trend on both Italian and Yellow S/n. Weather in both Southern California and Mexico will slow down supplies this week. Supplies are improving as Mexico has begun and California continues with lighter production from Coachella, Ca. New acreage coming online from Coachella this week, light numbers expected. Eastern Squash: Janine Baird Mostly Georgia growers are done with their squash fields and volume in Georgia is dropping off considerably. Cool weather in Florida has slowed down the squash considerably, leading to a very tight market on squash, particularly the green. As weather warms up through the week, we should see more availability. STONE FRUIT Amy Grolnick Domestic fruit has finished for the season. There are both Hichiya and Fuyu persimmons and pomegranates available with good availability and quality. TOMATOES Jay Martini Western: The first two weeks of November are traditionally when California’s San Joaquin Valley finishes up for the season due to less daylight & ambient heat in the fields, and the constant threat of rain. Most mature green

grower/shippers are done for the season & the last loads are shipping out to Western & Midwest destinations. Eastern: With the fall Palmetto/Ruskin mature green tomato crop front & center, pickers are dodging raindrops to get into the fields. Sizes are skewing towards extra-large size, and while yields are not plentiful as of yet, quality is very good. The Quincy/Tallahassee district is due to finish up within a week or so, and looks for the next area, Immokalee in south Florida, to start around Thanksgiving. VALUE ADDED Gabe Romero/Mike Pacheco

The quality on lettuce is up and down, but there is enough to fill all processor’s needs. The Romaine supplies have good availability, and the quality is better with many suppliers. Broccoli supplies are steady. The cauliflower supplies have tightened up, in comparison to the previous week. Overall, processors are being covered.

WATERMELON: Jaime Contreras

Market is steady. Demand exceeds on s/less watermelon. Most availability will be in cartons. Availability on seeded watermelon is sporadic. W/melon has started crossing through Nogales, supplies are improving as other growers start harvesting.