The supply of lemons is in the usual transition period from the end of the San Joaquin Valley fruit to the peak of the Coastal fruit in California. "So by June, we'll move into some of the imports from Chile and Argentina. We're in the transitional May-June period," says Alex Teague of World Groves.
On sizing, the supply situation is similar to last year when both the San Joaquin fruit and the Coastal fruit had medium to really large fruit. "Opportunities are available for the southern hemisphere fruit on the small sizes, so 165 and smaller," says Teague.
Overall, supply is a little greater right now compared to last year, particularly with greater volume coming in from Chile and Argentina this year. All of this means there'll be plenty of supply and perhaps towards the end of the summer, the small fruit may become a little tighter on availability.
Softer foodservice demand
As for demand, foodservice demand is softer though retail demand has stayed steady. "Foodservice is down by maybe three percent–not a lot," says Teague. "There's usually a pick up in demand over the summertime when tourism gets going–between 10 and 15 percent. I'm sure we'll see that again."
Part of the softer demand could also be because of the state of the economy with consumers having less disposable income in their pockets. "We'll have to see how much that affects the food end of tourism," says Teague.
So where is this leaving pricing? It's almost identical to last year with large fruit on the lower end of pricing and small fruit very high. "Given supply, I expect pricing to be very steady throughout the whole summer," says Teague.
For more information:
Alex Teague
World Groves
[email protected]
www.worldgroves.com