As the 2010 California stone fruit deal approaches its mid-point this month, the industry has found itself struggling with a variety of challenges. From the outset, fruit production had been problematic as the San Joaquin Valley experienced an unusually cool spring, with temperatures in May averaging 10°F (5°C) below those of 2009, which resulted in the start of the season being delayed by as much as a week.
The cool weather also took its toll on fruit sizing – especially for the peach crop – as the industry has been ‘blessed’ with more small fruit than it would have liked. The fact that the US southeast (Georgia and South Carolina) have come in with a bumper crop of small-diameter peaches as well only served to depress the domestic market by the middle of June.
According to US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Market News Service, FOB California prices for 48-50 count tray-packed fruit are currently running US$3.50 per carton below 2009 levels.
“It’s been a tough peach market over the last several weeks,” admitted Gary Van Sickle, president of the California Tree Fruit Agreement. “The southeast had a big peach crop with lots of small sizes, which affected demand for California’s `smaller` fruit. Fortunately, Mexico has become a viable market for us these days and the industry was able to divert a percentage of our small fruit that direction.”
Industry expectations are for size curves for peaches to improve, as well as overall fruit production to catch up to its normal seasonal time as the deal moves deeper into the summer months.
As for nectarines, grower returns have fared somewhat better than for peaches so far this season. As of early July, FOB California prices were running within a US$1.00 per carton range of 2009 levels for preferred sizes.
“It’s been a good colour year with the cooler weather but a bit difficult at times with sugar levels,” Vince Balakian of Fruit Patch Sales Balakian told Fruitnet.com. “There have been some notable exceptions, however, such as the ‘Spring Pearl’ variety.”
A significant percentage of the Californian industry’s white flesh stonefruit acreage has been removed from production over the last two seasons due to poor returns. More white flesh peach acreage remains in production relative to nectarines, however. The combination of smaller sizing and more volume has made for relatively sluggish demand for peaches in the leading stonefruit market in Asia – Taiwan.
“It’s been a little slow there for peaches lately,” said Tina Haga, export manager for Fruit Patch Sales. “White nectarines are a different story, however, as we’ve got fruit just flying out the door to Taiwan this season. We are leveraging our nectarines to help movement on our peaches.”
The Californian plum supply has continued its downward spiral during 2010 due to acreage removal and some untimely hailstorms last spring. The California Tree Fruit Agreement (CTFA) estimates that just 8.7m cartons will be packed this season compared to 9.4m last year and 12.8m in 2008.
As might be predicted, the market for Californian plums has remained strong during the first half of 2010 with little change expected for the balance of the season.
“Plums have been tight all season and should remain that way until Angelenos hit at the end of the deal,” said Ms Haga. “It’s tracking very similarly to last season when there were very few straight `container` loads shipped to Chinese markets.”
See the July/August edition of Asiafruit Magazine for a full report on the Californian stonefruit season.
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