Cabbage markets are expected to stay steady as the holiday season gets closer. "The cabbage market has been anywhere from the high teens-low $20s in the last month or so. It's pretty stable now and the market should stay good through the holidays because it will transition some production to the desert," says Russ Widerburg of Valley Produce.
That said, that transition is still a month away, as is production in Mexico. Right now in California, Santa Maria is steady with supply and Oxnard's volumes are also increasing. While Oxnard has always been a big area for growing green cabbage, there have been concerns in recent years over insect pressure. In turn, plants have been cut back during the summer months, though that's changing as fall production comes on. Quality is also looking good out of the region on cabbage.
In California, growing conditions for cabbage have been good. "We've got the cool mornings and the warm afternoons and it'll gradually get cooler. There's a little bit of rain forecast for the end of the week, but that'll be needed rain. We're supposed to get around an inch and that will help growers skip an irrigation cycle," says Widerburg.
© Valley Produce
Recent shorter supply pushed demand
As for demand, January through August saw some depressed cabbage markets with pricing often between $7-$9. However supply then got short and markets jumped up to the $20 range.
However, the more recent steadiness in cabbage pricing comes at a time when the markets on many vegetable items are not necessarily equally steady. "With markets on multiple items, there are so many districts getting ready to go so between lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, you have a pretty big range in pricing depending on what area and who has what," says Widerburg. "So there might be some $10 spreads in a lot of markets right now."
Looking ahead towards Thanksgiving, a sizable food holiday in the U.S., while cabbage isn't necessarily an item promoted for the holiday, it does see its own lift in demand given consumers are in stores and shopping. That said, it is also largely a foodservice item driven by the demand for coleslaw and other shredded cabbage uses, so if contract cabbage runs short, demand spills over into the commodity side and takes from that side of the business.
"Cabbage pricing should probably stay about the same unless we get any kind of real cold spell on the coast to really slow things down. If it gets cold, it'll stunt it and then it'll create a little bit of a gap," says Widerburg.
For more information:
Russ Widerburg
Valley Produce
[email protected]
