“There’s still a bit from California running out of storage but they’re not that good. It’s just about done,” says Peter Carcione of Carciones Fresh Produce Co. in San Francisco, Ca.
“It’s earlier than we thought for Chile and the season will run until the middle of March,” says Douglas Wells of All Fresh Produce in Wilmington, Ca. “The Chilean crop looks normal and as far as quality, we’ll know soon. There’s already fruit on the water going to the East coast and we’ll start flying in some early nectarines sometime in the next couple of weeks. We’re not going to fill any pipelines with fruit but I think we’ll be able to get a bit of each item into the stores and supply enough.”
Similar to last year
Supplies, notes Wells, look to be the same as last year. Demand as well. “The retailers and buyers are asking about them so I think there’ll be some pretty good movement in the next couple of weeks,” Wells adds.
Pricing meanwhile is a wait-and-see situation for now. “Fruit being flown in by plane is probably in the mid to high $40s FOB,” says Wells. “And by boat going to the East Coast it will be in the mid to high $20s FOB. That’s similar to last year.”
For more information:
Peter Carcione
Carciones Fresh Produce Co.
Tel: +1- (650) 583-8989
pcarcione@hotmail.com
www.carcionefresh.com
Douglas Wells
All Fresh Produce
Tel: +1- 310-830-6337
doug@allfreshproduce.com