Market Update For Berries

Week of February 10 – February 16

Florida strawberry growers were expecting to be able to handle the heavy demand leading up to the holiday this week, but color in the fields never improved and marketers found themselves prorating heavily this past week. With Valentine’s Day on Friday, there will still be a demand exceed supply situation to open the week. Central Mexico has sent a fair amount of fruit, but not enough to make up for Florida’s short fall. Several days of rain in California and more rain expected this week, will make Santa Maria production irrelevant. Currently, the spot market ranges from $16.00 to $18.00, with almost no open availability. Once the disappointment of being undersupplied for the holiday settles in, we can expect the typical post-holiday adjustment with spot market FOBs dropping back to $14.00 and retailers should look to promote strawberries through the balance for the month.