The cabbage supply is slim at the moment. "For the last month, supply has been tight, though we've been blessed with good supply here and we made it through this volatility. The dry weather in the upper Midwest is one of the main factors," says Eric Hansen of Hansen Farms LLC., noting its supply is coming locally from New York state. "Though it's not like it's one big event affecting supply. Everyone has their own smaller issues."
Harvest in New York is underway and will continue for another five weeks.
As for demand, Hansen says it's experiencing strong demand given the tight supply around the country.
Higher market
That's leaving the cabbage market on the stronger side and slightly off historical highs. "We were up around $17-$18/carton for a week or two there and it's probably more like $15/carton now," he says. "With this market, people are not going to store any more cabbage than they need to this winter."
He also notes that processing cabbage is also short on supply and has also seen stronger pricing.
Looking ahead, the recent Hurricane Helene will likely have an effect on the cabbage market as the already tight supply transitions in November-December. "That's because it affected Georgia and then western North Carolina quite a bit and there is definitely significant cabbage growing volume that comes out of those places," Hansen says. "Cabbage will just remain volatile for the next two months minimum. It wouldn't surprise me if we saw pricing pick up and drop week to week by a dollar or two with this situation."
For more information:
Eric Hansen
Hansen Farms
Tel: +1 585-526-5260
[email protected]
http://hansenfarms.com