With cold temperatures holding back Florida's cantaloupe season, overlap with imports from Guatemala and Honduras is unlikely. While imports were down earlier in the season due to white fly, they've recently picked up.Whitefly put pressure on cantaloupe supplies from Guatemala and Honduras earlier in the season, noted Fresh Quest's Jim Graves. But as that cleared up, supplies have been picking up.
“Yields were off early on,” said Graves. “But with more boxes coming in, prices have been kept from rising.” Prices for size nine melons have been in the $10 to $12 range, added Graves, and with steady volume and no jumps in demand, prices have remained constant. The import season usually lasts into late-April or early-May, but if rains hit Guatemala and Honduras before then, the season could end sooner.
Domestic supplies usually arrive in early May, but the recent cold weather could delay sizable volumes from hitting the market by as much as a week. Graves noted that warmer weather in April could speed up development of this year's crop, but he expects most supplies to be available from Florida in the second week of May. That will likely ensure that there's not a large overlap between imports and domestic supplies.
“Volume from Central America will increase over the next two weeks and start going down in April,” said Graves. “With light domestic supplies early on, there won't be lots of overlap.”