Domestic strawberry supplies catching up with better weather
Overview of the Californian strawberry season Kyla Oberman of California Giant Berry Farms, complemented by charts from Agronometrics. Original published on May 21, 2021.
Currently, there are two primary growing regions producing the fresh supply of strawberries in California. Santa Maria is seeing peak supplies and will continue with high volumes of good-quality berries for the next three to four weeks.
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
Meanwhile growers in Watsonville and Salinas are having a hard time building momentum due to weather. “The plants did not receive ideal chill time at the nursery level over the winter. Combined with cold temperatures, the fruit has been slow to ripen compared to timing of previous years,” says Ediger.
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
Lower 2021 volume so far
Overall, compared to recent years, the Watsonville/Salinas growing area is approximately 25 percent behind in volume and running about three weeks behind schedule. “However, the plants are healthy and loaded with flowers and green fruit. We’re starting to see the onset of peak volume and expect a very large haul of fruit to come on by the first of June, which will make up for lost time and volume in the end,” says Ediger, adding that’s when supplies will move into promotable volumes. “Now through end of June is expected to produce an overall peak supply window for the California strawberry season.”
This supply is meeting particularly strong demand from all over the U.S. and Canada. “In particular, we see foodservice in the southeast of the U.S.–Texas, Florida, Georgia–making a strong come back and we’re expecting quite a few other states to follow suit,” said Ediger.
Because of the lower than normal supply so far, prices have been historically high for the popular fruit. However, those prices are beginning to fall now. “The USDA strawberry average was $16 per 8 1lb. tray last week and now is around $8 per 8 1lb. tray which is where we need it to be because of the large amount of volume we expect in June,” says Ediger. “We need the right retail prices to move the fruit through to the consumer.”
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
Looking ahead, with Memorial Day, a popular strawberry-associated holiday around the corner, promotional supplies of good-quality berries will be ample.
The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.
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