Garnand Marketing can help you with fresh produce year-round by partnering with you to provide the highest quality produce at the best prices, whether it be load by load or on a contract basis.
Potatoes
Idaho: Potato prices are down and demand is fairly light on consumers and moderate on cartons. Transportation availability has eased but prices are still high with no indication they will be dropping soon. Some quality issues, including black spot and off type, have been reported.
Colorado: Demand for potatoes is light but prices remain steady. Quality has slipped a bit. Trucks are still tight in this region.
Washington: Potato market in Washington appears to be steady. But if someone is long on a particular size, you may get a deal. Transportation has relaxed, but trucks are still tight–rates have come down a bit.
Wisconsin: Quality has sheds concerned about overall availability while the demand in Wisconsin right now is light. FOB pricing remains firm. Rain during the harvest may be contributing to the storage conditions. Truck availability remains an issue.
Onions
Idaho/Oregon: Transportation continues to be an issue from Idaho/Eastern Oregon. Some shippers are willing to give adjustments on FOB pricing to keep things moving. Quality remains good with few issues showing up. Jumbo yellows are the most plentiful and market is steady.
Washington: There has been a slight drop in FOB on jumbo yellow onions. Whites and reds appear to be steady. RailEx is still the best option to the East Coast, but it won’t work anyplace else. Trucks remain tight even though rates have dropped a bit. Quality remains good, however, warm temps have us somewhat nervous.
Utah: Utah seems to be moving more onions out but FOB’s are higher. Their freight rates are like Idaho potato rates so better than the onion rates out of Idaho/Oregon. Quality appears to be good.
Texas/Mexico: The harvest is getting started. Some of the early onions were a bit green so there were shipping issues. Starting this week, we will see much better quality, especially if you’re in warmer climates so you can use a flatbed since reefers remain tight.
Transporation
Nationally trucks are still tight and freight continues to cause issues. Many fear the prices are directly linked to the ELD implementation with no current weather issues. The rates in some regions do appear to be coming down.
There are issues with driver shortages in the Southwest due to crackdowns on drivers licensed out of Mexico but not in the U.S., and not enough American drivers to fill the gap.
As the 90-day temporary waiver for agricultural commodities ends in about 5 weeks, there are still concerns there may be more problems for fresh produce. For more on the ELD implementation see our latest information here.