Early spring temperatures have not only affected the supply side of many crops this year, but have also played into consumer demand. Warm weather has encouraged the consumption of produce typically associated with spring and summer. As a result, consumer demand for cantaloupes has kept up with increased supplies."The market has been very good," says Lou Kertesz of Fresh Quest. "There have been lower supplies of other products like grapes, we've had good supplies of cantaloupes and the weather in Northeast markets has been beautiful." The pleasant weather encourages consumption of summer produce like cantaloupe, and that has helped move increasing volumes of the fruit.
Movement was not so brisk last fall when demand was low. But light volumes of fruit helped buoy prices. As supplies have increased, demand has been there to meet those supplies, and, according to Kertesz, part of that has come from increased confidence in food safety. There were high-profile cases of contaminated melons last year, but Kertesz believes the lingering effects of that have dissipated.
"Any time there are major issues with health safety, it's going to take time to get over that," he says, "but time heals that." He cites strict safety regulations as helping restore consumer trust.
"It's been a perfect storm for high demand," he adds, "demand has come back up from last year."