DLJ Produce - Marketing Report

Week of September 19th – September 25th

13260 Daum Drive

City of Industry, CA 91746

626 330 – 6849

CA STONE FRUIT

Yellow Peach – The California peach crop will continue along in light volume with growers harvesting Autumn Flames in both Arvin and Reedley / Kingsburg. Volume will be light for the balance of the season and size will be big, with fruit peaking on 48’s and larger. Color and quality will be strong and harvesting will stretch for the next couple weeks leading up to October. Other proprietary varieties like Last Tango and Last Chance will also be harvested at the same time. FOB prices will continue to remain strong due to a combination of high demand and lackluster volume out of Utah, Idaho and Washington. Expect pricing to be firm and supplies to be limited for the remainder of the season, with most shippers winding down by September 30th.

Yellow Nectarine – We have gotten past the heavy volume experienced in late October / early September. Growers have cleaned up the heavy inventories from the last couple weeks and FOB prices will slowly start to creep up. The last fruit of the season will finish harvest this week and supplies will stretch through the remainder of September pending movement. Quality will remain strong, with moderate supplies of small volume fill and large tray packs being available. FOB prices will increase this week and firm up as inventories are cleaned up. One more week of ad promotion will be available, then volume will hit the skids quickly.

White Peach – The last of the September Snow white peach are in the cooler and will clean up by the end of the week. Expect the season to wind down quickly with only minimal amounts of large size tray packs on inventory. Only mixer pallets will make it into October, with shippers looking to clean up the season as soon as possible.

White Nectarine – Artic Snow and Arctic Mist, the last two varieties of the season, will see their last days of harvest this week. Inventories of tray packs and volume fill will be available due to only moderate demand from export customers. Quality will be strong, but expect to see some green background color that is inherent to late white nectarine varieties. Supplies will carry through the week but are expected to clean up once we reach October. FOB prices will remain relatively unchanged as growers look to move volume and finish.

Plums – Black Kat and Angelino will make up the bulk of the black plum volume this week. As Black Kats continue to wind down, more Angelino acreage will come into production and begin harvest. Expect volume to remain consistent, but demand has increased as of late. FOB prices will slowly increase over the next couple weeks into October before plum storage programs / controlled atmosphere inventories begin. Quality will remain strong for the balance of the season, with Angelinos expected to peak on 40 – 50 series.

Red plums will be a combination of September Yummy that is on its last round of shipping and Flavor Fall variety that will start at the end of the week. Also, late proprietary varieties like Holiday plum are getting ready to start harvest. Volume will be moderate to carry into October, but recent action has brought some life to the plum market. Quality will remain strong, but size will increase considerably once growers start Flavor Fall in volume. FOB prices will follow their black counterpart and slowly increase as volume tails off.

GRAPES

The red grape market remains all over the board as growers continue to harvest Rubies, Scarlet Royals, Crimson and clean up the last of their Flame inventory. This has created a split market, with some shippers looking to move lower color / quality Flames at a reduced FOB price. Quality has not been greatly affected by the light sprinkles the Central Valley experienced last weekend. Quality will remain strong, especially on fresh picked Scarlet Royal and Crimson. These varieties will command a higher FOB, especially on export caliber boxes. Expect volume on Crimson to increase considerably next week as color finally catches up with the late start.

The green grape market will move along steadily as growers continue to pick Thompson and even a few late blocks of Princess. Some growers have already finished their Thompson fields and are waiting on Autumn King to start in the next couple weeks. Good inventories of green grapes remain and will continue to carry over and bridge the gap between varieties. Quality has been consistent, but some signs of scarring and mildew persist. Due to the weather during the growing cycle and the overall weakness of the Thompson crop, growers will not pack a 16 lb. storage grape this season in favor of shipping as 19 lb. quickly. This will help limit the liability of problems popping up during storage. Autumn King and Luisco will have to carry the late season market.

Growers have finished their Fantasy and Lindy Black varieties of black grapes and will move into Autumn Royal variety. Overall, the crop locks very short this season due to the variety being alternate bearing and this may affect FOB prices considerably. The lack of total cases will affect the entire industry and keep demand at a peak to cover ad commitments. Volume will increase as more fields come into production at the end of the week.

Red Globe availability will remain consistent with good volume continuing to be harvested in the field. Expect export demand to stay high, but enough volume will be around to cover domestic demand. Quality will remain strong as growers look to keep the pack clean. FOB prices will remain at a promotable level most of the month of October until quality becomes an issue and supplies start to tighten up.

IMPORTED CITRUS

The import citrus season will slowly start to wind down as we reach the end of the month. The East Coast will see their last arrivals on Chilean and South African product at the start of October as Florida gets ready to start production. Overall, quality will remain strong with only slight problems of freeze damage on navels still popping up. The decrease in arrivals will push up FOB prices on both coasts as demand starts to exceed supply. Large size clementines and South African product will remain tight until the end of season and greatly affect availability. Movement on the West Coast will remain steady, but the same kind of constraints will be in place with the lack of volume affecting FOB prices.

CA CITRUS

Growers will slowly start to wind down on the Valencia crop in California as packouts in the field start to finish up. Quality will remain strong, with good sugar content, but signs of puff will be prevalent due to recent weather conditions. Navel oranges will be historically late this season and shippers will look to stretch the Valencia crop into the first couple weeks of October to help fill the gaps. Expect FOB prices to increase steadily over the next couple weeks as decreased production starts to increase supply.