Both weather and a shift in growing regions have temporarily affected supplies of zucchini out of Mexico.
“Because we’ve had this cold weather, it’s impacted the growing regions mostly down in Culiacán, Sinaloa and Sonora and supplies are a little bit tighter,” says Yolanda Ramirez of Valley Girl Sales and Marketing in Santa Maria, Ca. “I don’t believe we’ve had any freezing but the cool temperatures definitely impact the production and how fast the plants can reproduce.”
Those limited supplies began just over a week ago, though supplies are likely going to become more available within the week as temperatures warm back up.
Moving growing regions
At the same time, the growing region for zucchini is about to shift which has also affected the quality somewhat of zucchini. “The quality issues we’re seeing, particularly on the yellow, that’s because of some wind and storms we’ve had so we’re seeing some of the scarring,” says Ramirez. “But it’s also the end of one plantation and now we’re rotating back to Hermosillo Sonora, which will have much better quality. If there are any quality issues, it’s more just because it’s time to switch to another region.”
Even with some product available from Florida, demand continues to be good for the green, yellow and Mexican gray squash as well.
Temporary price hike?
However with the limited supplies, the price on zucchini began to climb as of the middle of last week. “Pricing had been down and zucchini was very very affordable but then it came back up about $3,” says Ramirez. “But we are expecting that with nicer weather moving in and the new plantings coming out of Hermosillo, it should be back to normal within the next week to 10 days. We’ll have a normal rest of the season with competitive pricing on good volumes of product with good quality.”
The Mexican production will go until California begins around late April. “The San Joaquin Valley will start to produce but not in big numbers. They have a very very short window because of the high heat,” says Ramirez. “California will go until the end of October. The East Coast will also produce in the summer and there are a lot of local programs so it gets very competitive in the summer.”
For more information:
Yolanda Ramirez
Valley Girl Sales and Marketing
Tel: +1 (805) 720-2622
[email protected]