With fewer strawberries compared to last year at this time, the pre-Valentine's Day pull on strawberries looked strong. "Demand has been good. There was a good deal of holiday activity and with the general shortage of berries anyway, you could almost say with or without Valentine's Day this year, business would be good. We've been sold out for two months," says John Wilkinson of Blazer Wilkinson Gee, LLC., adding that the market is around $20.
As for supply, in California, harvest is just underway in both Oxnard and Santa Maria with the new spring crop. Normal supply is also coming out of Baja. Central Mexico is the district producing the most berries at the moment.
Delayed in Florida
Then there's Florida. "Florida is having a tough time getting going. Some of the fields are looking really good but just not moving even though they have good weather," he says, adding that there have been complicating factors to the Florida season–everything from hurricanes to recent cooler weather. "The berries have just not been coming along. Looking at the recent shipments out of Florida for the last 10 days, even though the weather has been really warm, they haven't changed a bit. They've averaged about 300,000 trays a day for the district," says Wilkinson. "They're behind and there's some questions arising now about whether they'll be able to catch up because it's getting late."
Looking ahead, the push is on for Florida to boost its production while Central Mexico will decline with its production, as it does at this time of year. "California will be completely subject to the weather," says Wilkinson, adding that pricing is expected to stay where it is for the near future.
For more information:
John Wilkinson
Kiana Amaral
Blazer Wilkinson Gee, LLC
Tel: +1 (800) 676-1577
https://bwgberries.com/