Tight supplies due to later start of Hatch chile season

“Only a few Hatch chile growers have early transplants and all of those are spoken for at this point. The chile are just starting to come up,” says Preston Mitchell of The Hatch Chile Store in Las Cruces, NM. “Everything is a little later than usual this year so we’re seeing supplies a little tighter than normal.”

Generally chile come off in the second or third week of July. “But this year we didn’t start harvesting our transplants until the 24th,” says Mitchell, who adds that the harvest generally lasts until the middle of October. “The fresh market really slows down though after Labor Day but that’s a sad thing because that’s when the best chile come off. We typically see the season peak right after Labor Day and into the first or second week of September.”

Not surprisingly, the heat that the region has seen this summer has pushed the later start. “This year is a very hot hot summer and a lot of plants shed blooms from the heavy heat,” says Mitchell. “We routinely saw 106-107 degree days in the months of June and July and the chile don’t like anything above 100 degrees.”

The heat may also affect the longer term outlook for the season. “Because of that high heat, I think some of our growers are going to see some lower yields than they’re used to,” says Mitchell. 

Coming up against those tight supplies though are a strong demand for the chile. “That’s the funny thing about the chile market—demand always peaks around the beginning. Everyone wants to be the first to have chile in their stores, especially in California and Texas. All of the grocers want a big push so we’re seeing a lot of demand right now,” says Mitchell.

That puts pricing at relatively strong levels, especially on the front end of the season because of the tight supplies and solid demand. “And pricing is a little higher than last year—not FOB though,” says Mitchell “It’s a little higher delivered because we’re seeing the surge in freight rates that everyone’s seeing.”

Looking ahead, Mitchell says that gradually other shippers will come online in the next week or so. “By the second or third week in August, supplies will no longer be an issue,” he says. “There’ll be enough to satisfy demand.”