The Produce Report

April 26th – May 1st
Veggies: Red and yellow bells remain extremely short and very expensive.
Desert green bell quality looks excellent and prices are steady. Eggplant looks tired, new crop starts soon. Italian squash volume is light and prices are high.
Yellow squash is just now starting to harvest, gold bar has been the only substitute. Blue lake beans have also started out of Coachella and quality is much improved. Baja cucumbers are in full force and prices are reflecting.
Asparagus is in transition and prices are rising. As Coachella and Baja start to increase volume the prices should come off dramatically.
Tomatoes: New crop romas are picking up volume out of Baja and prices are coming back down to normal. Quality has been much improved. New crop round tomatoes are slated to start in the 2nd week of May as spring weather kicks Baja into gear. Quality on the old crop mainland fruit is very average. New crop cherry and grape tomatoes are looking excellent and prices are dropping.
Melons: Good volume from Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras are helping to bring prices down on cantaloupes and honeydews. Quality has been fairly good with decent brix. Hopefully this volume will last until we overlap with California desert fruit and keep prices low. Seedless watermelons remain fairly priced with good color and sugars.
Berries: Strawberry volume has dropped off and prices are higher this week. Blackberries look good and are the best price of the bushberries. Chilean blueberries are all but finished, California blues have started but limited and prices are very high.
Onions: The Imperial Valley has begun harvesting new crop yellow onions. Prices will be slow to back off as the market is seriously depleted right now.

Tags: Produce Reports