With the supply of conventional ginger from Brazil having wrapped up mid-January, right now supply of conventional ginger is coming in from Costa Rica, a country that ships close to year-round. "That's helpful because it fills in some gaps for us," says Alan Goldberg of A&B Tropical Produce. "Costa Rican supply is normal. The quality however, is not as great as it was four to six weeks ago and that's due to the weather."
Conventional ginger from Costa Rica.
While Costa Rica is shipping conventional ginger, the industry supply of organic ginger is also coming from Peru right now. China also ships ginger, though not as many ships into the southeast as it used to, and instead, is largely destined for regions such as California, New York, and Canada.
What about demand? "There always seems to be demand for ginger. It moves slower though when there are multiple regions shipping which does happen," says Goldberg, adding that demand for ginger was stronger last year at this time. "There are times when there's ginger from three to four countries. There may even be some Honduran ginger right now, but the quality is suspect."
Pricing compared to 2024
All of this is leaving pricing on Costa Rican ginger slightly higher than last year, as is Peruvian ginger. "A lot of it is built-in production costs between the farm and the shipping," says Goldberg.
Organic ginger is coming from Peru.
Looking ahead, Costa Rica and Peru will continue to ship and a few other South American countries will also be shipping the product. For A&B, Brazilian ginger will begin again in May as its primary sourcing region with early, younger ginger supply shipping by air in May until the product is mature enough. Costa Rican ginger will then move into the role of secondary sourcing region.
For more information:
Alan Goldberg
A&B Tropical Produce
Tel: +1 (305) 805-1530
[email protected]
www.abtropical.com
