Asparagus – We have not been seeing the volumes we were expecting to see by this time of the season. Yields have been 40% down (industry-wide) from what was projected and even with better temperatures in Caborca after the freeze (that affected the fields a week ago) they haven’t returned to normal.
Avocados – It seems the American and Mexican Agricultural officers have worked out an arrangement to allow avocados to resume import into the US. The pause in shipping fruit to America, though, caused a gap in supplies and may take a while for the market to settle back down. Prices remain strong for the time being on the limited amount of avocados in the marketplace currently.
Bananas – Remain extremely limited in supply, while demand is extremely high, causing chaos in the market. They’re selling so fast that shippers aren’t able to hold fruit back long enough to ripen, causing everyone to be out of ripe bananas at the same time. We’re working to buy extra fruit in order to allow it to ripen in time for shipment to you, but it’s been difficult keeping up with demand.
Cucumbers – This time of year, Florida doesn’t grow cucumbers, but rather imports them from Honduras and ships them from there. Unfortunately, volume from Honduras is way down in the East. We expect conditions to remain active for the next two weeks. Nogales has also seen a reverse in volume as the cooler weather is slowing overall growth.
Grapes – We’re seeing much better availability for grapes as importers finally seem to have been able to unload their grapes off of the waiting ships. Supplies continue to improve and pricing is following.
Melons – Imported cantaloupes and honeydews remain a great buy right now, with super high quality and plentiful supplies keeping pricing low.
Onions – Remain extremely short and prices continue to rise as shippers pro-rate orders to make their storage supplies last until the new crop begins harvest down in Mexico. We’re in for another couple of months of tight supply until they get started down there.
Peppers and Squash – Temperatures in Florida have warmed back up and the vegetable machine got cranked back up. Supplies are much better on squash, peppers, corn and other items this week.
Q: What is the best time on the clock?
A: 6:30, hands down.
