Asparagus supplies are short right now. Tom Linaris, asparagus buyer for S. Katzman Produce says the supplies out of Peru are at their lowest given the transition is underway from the Northern fields to the Southern fields. “And they limit their amount of harvest predicated on Mexico usually being in supply at this time.”
Mexico is also transitioning from Baja to San Luis to Caborca, which is the largest asparagus-growing region. “However it’s been cool in Mexico and the product hasn’t been sizing up properly. The standard is coming in undersized, the larger sizes are in very high demand and jumbo is almost impossible,” he says. “It’s really short.”
However, demand is average for now. Linaris says because this is a transition time for Peru, and with the holiday coming up, there is a lot of conversation about a high and tight asparagus market. However, over the past few years, it does not seem like the category has come up short in the end because asparagus promotions for Thanksgiving are not as popular as they are for Christmas. Instead, the Thanksgiving pull seems to be geared more toward broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, squash and yams. Though Linaris says it will be interesting to see how this year plays out with very high prices on Western vegetables.
Non-promotable pricing
Meanwhile, FOBs are remaining steady and hovering in the mid-$20s predicated on sizing. “They’re not really at a promotable price right now based on what the FOBs dictates and what the cost of freight is coming across the country,” Linaris says. “I’ve been leaning a bit more towards Peru in the last couple of weeks because the Mexican product has not been up to the quality standards I’m accustomed to.”
While he sees that price staying steady in the near future, Peruvian asparagus will likely go between low to mid $20s on standard and mid to higher $20s on large. “I see it hanging in there on price for another 10 days and then I’d be careful,” Linaris says. “Once you get past the Thanksgiving Day pull, the market falls apart a bit because demand falls off on asparagus and a number of other items.”
That said, closer to Christmas, asparagus demand picks up again given it is a popular item for Christmas and New Year’s. “That’s also typically when you start getting better supply out of Mexico. San Luis kicks in and you see better quality and better supply from there which makes it a little bit more promotable,” adds Linaris.
Photo: Dreamstime
For more information:
Brittany Pearson
S. Katzman Produce
Tel: +1 (718) 991-4700 ext. 332
[email protected]
https://www.katzmanproduce.com/