A perfect storm of weather events in both Mexico and Florida has created a shortage on bell peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. "It's really bad on peppers and cucumbers especially," says Francisco Clouthier with Maui Fresh International LLC. "On Roma tomatoes, 80 percent of the production comes from Mexico, so there's a little more availability there but still a shortage."
In Mexico, it saw a warmer than normal winter which brought volume on early. It also introduced more disease pressures. Meanwhile Florida saw issues following significant freezes at the end of January and early February. That impacted production for late winter and early spring. "So now we have a big gap in production in both Mexico and the East Coast that has led to these extreme shortages. It's a perfect storm," says Clouthier.
On top of that, the weak U.S. dollar is also leaving more product within the Mexican national market that would normally be destined for the U.S. "In the past, the dollar would have been 22 MX pesos/$1USD. Right now, it's 17 MX peso/$1USD. That is a big difference," says Clouthier.
It also may be awhile before there's supply relief, especially given Georgia, the next East Coast growing region to come on after Florida, saw a freeze earlier this week. "I don't think we'll see any relief until May," he says, noting that's when California will begin its production in Coachella.
© Maui Fresh International
Other growing regions
While in Mexico, cucumber production is starting in Baja California, Sonora will also start soon though high temperatures there of over 100 degrees F may also bring further challenges.
All of this is leading to significantly higher pricing on these items–green peppers are over $40. They would normally be in the high teens. Cucumbers are in the $50s and would historically be in the low $20s/high teens. Roma tomatoes are in the mid $20s–at this time last year it was in the low teens.
The shortage is also adding pressure onto contracts for these items. "It's difficult because you have to comply with these contracts and keep customers happy and you're also trying to work with growers that have very little supply," Clouthier says. "Contracts make for steady demand. While customers will buy less volume at these prices, the orders are still there."
For more information:
Francisco Clouthier
Maui Fresh International LLC
Tel: +1 (213) 688-0880
[email protected]
https://www.maui-fresh.com/
