News and Stories

California’s Central Coast has experienced warm, humid conditions over the past 7 to 10 days, affecting the quality and shelf-life potential of berries, lettuces, tender leaf items, and other crops. Bleeding, bruising, and soft texture is being reported in strawberry supplies.

California Strawberries

• Fresh supplies are decreasing; shippers are sending many lots to processors/freezers
• The market is steady, but expected to increase due to tightening stocks
• Warm temperatures in the Salinas/Watsonville growing region have led to industry-wide quality concerns such as bleeding, bruising, dark color, and soft texture/fragile skins
• Markon First Crop (MFC) Strawberries are limited; Markon Best Available is being substituted as needed
• Expect inconsistent quality through the month of July

Lemons

• Demand exceeds supply for 140-count and larger sizes from the Southern California growing region; these sizes will continue to decrease over the next few weeks
• Prices are steady at high levels
• MFC Lemons are available; quality is very good
• Supplies are tight, but will increase over the next two weeks and reach sufficient volume by early August

Onions

• Strong export demand and rain in California and New Mexico will cause onion inventories to tighten
• Prices are elevated
• MFC Onions from California and New Mexico will remain on the market through mid-August
• Price increases will be temporary; the market will stabilize late next week when weather improves and supplies increase

Please contact your Markon customer service representative for more information.

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