Market Update for April 21

CALIFORNIA:

Landmark Produce owner Andy Marchesotti said the Victor-based company started shipping on Monday, April 18, and has seen very good demand with the startup. Andy commented that the quality is excellent, and Landmark is shipping yellows this week, with demand spread equally between mediums and jumbos.  He also said most of the crop is jumbos for sizing. 

John Vlahandreas at Wada Farms in Idaho Falls, ID, said Wada will start its California deal on April 25, and he said labor will be an ongoing issue with the new price increases. Product so far has looked very nice, he said, and he quoted current market prices for jumbo yellows at $12-$13 and medium yellows at $13-$14. Reds and whites are not expected until the first week in May, he said. 

IDAHO-E. OREGON

Grant Kitamura at Murakami Produce in Ontario, OR, said the jumbo market is currently at $7.50 to $8. Demand has been very active this week, Grant said, and Murakami is shipping reds and yellows, with reports that the operation still has good supplies and good quality. All onions packed currently are coming out of cold storage, and Murakami will be shipping for approximately two more weeks. 

WASHINGTON:

Larry Denke of Agri-Pack in Pasco said the company continues to ship yellows, with the 2015 storage crop to clean up by the end of April. “Overall it has been a good year,” Larry said. “I wish we had more to sell, because we’re known to go later in the season with our onions.” Agri-Pack shipped its last loads from Texas and Mexico and is looking at moving sweets out of California during May, he said.

TEXAS – Rio Grande Valley:

Don Ed Holmes at The Onion House in Weslaco told OnionBusiness.com that his company is now on the back side of the Texas deal. “We’re on the last 200 acres out of the 600 we started with,” Don Ed said on April 20. “These onions were planted after the rain (in late fall 2015), and they are mostly the Leona variety, which is a later maturing onion that is very durable. The size profile now is 30 percent medium and 60 percent jumbo, with a few colossals added in.” He said The Onion House has a “little bit of everything with a nice mix of reds, whites and yellows.” The deal is expected to clean up in another 10 days to two weeks. 

Mike Davis at Tex-Mex in Weslaco told OnionBusiness.com, “Our Texas deal is going very strong right now. Demand is high for all sizes and colors and the quality is outstanding, so for us, everything is excellent across the board.” If the weather cooperates through next week, Mike expects to get everything picked up and packed. He said Tex-Mex will wrap up its Texas shipping sometime in mid-May. 

MEXICO:

Dale DeBerry of AllVeg Sales in Boerne, TX, said he is finishing the last loads out of Mexico this week, and he described the deal as “terrific.” Dale said, “Quality was good, prices were good and trucks were good.” 

Tex-Mex in Weslaco is nearly finished with its Tampico shipments, according to Mike Davis. Mike said, “It looks like several loads will be coming in tomorrow, which will wrap up our Mexico season.”