The supply of cantaloupe and honeydew melons has tightened up considerably. "It's tightened up even from a week ago," says Garrett Patricio, President of Westside Produce. "What we're starting to experience right now are the concerns we had from that high heat period in July and even into August."
Along with that heat, other factors affecting the crop include a bloom drop earlier this year and less bee movement–another byproduct of high heat. In turn, this has affected the fruit set and ultimately led to lighter yields.
Fall, which is weeks away, is also when melon supply historically tightens up and normalizes in terms of days to harvest. "I don't think it's as much volume falling off as it is normalizing because that heat caused so much pressure on the fields. Fruit that would normally harvest in about 80 days is pushed up to 70-75 days. We had three weeks of planting overlap for a 10-day period at one point," says Patricio.
Meanwhile, on the demand side, local deals around the country are also finishing up which puts more pressure on California's supply.
Pricing picking up
All of this is creating a rising market. "Nobody knows how high the market is going to rise or where it's going to go," says Patricio, adding that is quite a switch from recent weeks where supply surpluses have resulted in softer markets. "Late August and into September, everything changes and typically markets rise considerably."
So where does this leave melons shortly? "I expect we'll see a big price change–at least over what we've seen in the last month," says Patricio. "It's not going to be outrageously high because there are still enough acres in production to support normal demand. However, with production and size normalizing I expect some sticker shock and volatility in the marketplace."
After all, recent sizing has been large to extremely large thanks to the heat. With that, the marketplace shrunk thanks to higher freight rates. "When freight is expensive, it changes the FOB price for the fruit. So I'm assuming we'll get back to more normal sizing which is a good blend of sizes to keep everyone happy," says Patricio.
For more information:
Garrett Patricio
Westside Produce
Tel: +1 (559) 659-3025
[email protected]
https://www.westsideproduce.com/