California strawberries look to continue to hold a strong market.
“Last week we were harvesting between 500,000 and 700,000 flats a day. That’s pretty light,” says Steve Johnston of G.W. Palmer & Co. Inc. in Salinas, CA. “The Oxnard summer-planted berries are starting and their volume will start to inch up. We’ll probably see 80,000 plus a day for them here at the end of the week and the beginning of next week that’s going to help. Overall right now the supplies are very light. And in the era of COVID-19, somehow strawberries are flying through the stores.”
Johnston notes this volume is light compared to what was available earlier in the season. “That’s when they were getting 1.3 to 1.4 million flats a day and selling out,” he says. “It’s been a heck of a year.”
Johnston says strawberry supplies have been tight since March. “Only a couple of times during the spring and summer did they get loose but that didn’t last very long when they were loose,” he adds.
Consistent promotions move berries
Demand for strawberries has been equally strong since March when the pandemic hit North America and caused widespread lockdowns across the continent. “I would never have suspected that the shippers could go through the whole season like they have this year selling out,” says Johnston. “They’ve done it because people are eating at home more. But the shippers and retailers have also worked really closely together on keeping prices down for the consumer. They’ve made themselves a market and they keep promoting them.”
As for pricing, it’s been above double digits all spring and summer. “Last year the market at this time was mostly $12 and today it’s mostly at $14-$16,” he says. “Last week it was probably $12 but they keep promoting so there are all sorts of previous commitments to programs that are probably mostly $10.”
Looking ahead, it’s likely the market will continue to stay strong. “The strawberry market is good as gold. I think they’ll keep going along until central Mexico starts going in November. Between now and November, I think they’ll have a very good market on them,” says Johnston.
For more information:
Steve Johnston
G.W. Palmer & Co., Inc.
Tel: +1 (831) 753-6578
[email protected]
http://www.gwpalmer.net/