Supply of cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelons from central California are good as the industry begins its transition to Arizona for supply. "There's no shortage of fruit but I wouldn't say there's a surplus either," says Justin Bootz with Legend Produce. "It's steady."
© Legend Produce
The transition of supply from California to Yuma, Arizona usually happens in the first week of October with overlap between the two growing areas. Yuma generally stays in production through Thanksgiving, though that's weather-dependent. "So far the weather has been good in Yuma. We got a little bit of rain last week, but that shouldn't really affect anything," says Bootz. He adds the weather in Huron, CA where it's producing currently has also been cooperative which has also helped the fruit quality.
Hope for demand to pick up
As for demand, as it's been with many commodities recently, it's soft and flat though this does happen at this time of year with the fall transition to items such as pumpkins and apples. There's hope that the transition to the fall growing area will help demand given there are fewer growers and shippers producing melons in that timeframe and supply is less.
© Legend Produce
Meanwhile pricing has been a challenge recently on melons. "It's been a rough August and September for cantaloupe and honeydew growers on the west side in California," says Bootz, adding that the watermelon market saw the same challenges. "The market has been stagnant and depressed for all of August and so far through September, though it's starting to show signs of improvement. If you had contracts with retailers, you were fortunate to have that because open-market pricing has not been very good for the last four to six weeks."
For more information:
Justin Bootz
Legend Produce
Tel: +1 (623) 298-3782
[email protected]
www.legendproduce.com