ProduceIQ: Hurricane season has entered the chat

Peak hurricane season has officially arrived, and Hawaii’s Big Island has received a double dose.

Back-to-back tropical systems, Hurricane Lala and Tropical Storm Moke, are heavily affecting local producers, although the storms are unlikely to make much of a dent in broader mainland produce markets.

Meanwhile, much of the mainland is dealing with a very different kind of water problem. Lake Mead and Lake Powell have both reached record-low levels, and the federal government has finalized a plan requiring significant water-use cuts from California, Arizona and Nevada beginning in 2027.

ProduceIQ Index:  $1.13/pound, up +1.8 percent over prior week

Week #34, ending Aug 21^st  

Blue Book has teamed with ProduceIQ BB #:368175 to bring the ProduceIQ Index to its readers. The index provides a produce industry price benchmark using 40 top commodities to provide data for decision making.

In the Salinas Valley, persistent heat and humidity are contributing to disease pressure and lower yields just as demand for lettuce and leaf is picking up. Strawberry and mango prices are also climbing as supplies tighten, while raspberry prices continue to defy expectations.

Lettuce and leaf markets are finally showing some movement as disease pressure threatens yields. Spinach is up +29 percent, iceberg +32 percent and romaine +7 percent over the previous week. Persistent heat and high humidity are increasing disease pressure in the Salinas Valley and reducing production. Increasing demand and lower yields will likely inject volatility into lettuce and leaf markets over the next few weeks.

Lettuce gets interesting

Up +18 percent week over week, strawberry prices have tied a ten-year high set in 2024. Unfortunately for buyers, the supply situation is forecast to worsen over the next two weeks as markets anxiously await berries from Santa Maria, CA, and Mexico.

Strawberries hit the ceiling

At a ten-year high, mango prices are living up to their “king of fruit” nickname. Mango markets typically rise through fall and winter as Mexican supply wanes and production shifts to growers closer to the equator. This year, however, Mexican production appears to be tapering earlier than usual, sending prices sharply higher.

Mangos reign supreme

Raspberry markets are gaining some much-needed momentum. Average prices are up +33 percent from the previous week but somehow remain at a ten-year low, much to the chagrin of suppliers. Supply is currently heavily weighted toward Mexican growers, whose production typically declines through late August. More growers are forecast to come online in the first weeks of September, making supply shortages a poor long-term strategy for raising prices. In the meantime, do your favorite raspberry supplier a favor and promote!

Raspberries rally, sort of

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ProduceIQ Index

The ProduceIQ Index is the fresh produce industry’s only shipping point price index. It represents the industry-wide price per pound at the location of packing for domestic produce and at the port of U.S. entry for imported produce. 

ProduceIQ uses 40 top commodities to represent the industry. The Index weights each commodity dynamically, by season, as a function of the weekly 5-year rolling average Sales. Sales are calculated using USDA Agricultural Marketing Service data on movement and prices. The Index serves as a fair benchmark for industry price performance.