D'Arrigo Brothers and Church Brothers Weigh in on the Fluctuating Broccoli Market
CALIFORNIA - We are now deep into the summer season, and the broccoli market is fluxing upwards.
"It definitely looks like there has been a jump in demand on broccoli as this week has progressed," Greg Heinz, Director of Foodservice Sales for D'Arrigo Bros. of California, tells me. "The market was lower over the last few weeks and we have had lighter supplies to coincide with the depressed broccoli market, but the demand seems to be getting stronger now.”
According to the USDA, as of July 23rd, the broccoli market is on the ‘slightly higher’ side, with crown cuts out of Salinas-Watsonville, CA priced from $13.00 to $16.55 for 20 pound carton loose, while coming out of Santa Maria, CA in the same packaging is about $12.00 to $13.95. Bunched broccoli in cartons from Santa Maria is priced at $11.00 to $11.85 for bunches 14s, with bunches of 14s broccoli out of Salinas-Watsonville ranges from $10.45 to $14.45.
The USDA also listed fairly good demand for crowns and very good demand for bunched broccoli.
Jason Lathos, Manager of Commodities for Church Brothers, tells me that though the market could go up about a dollar a day for a few days, he didn’t think amounts should get too high. And while he did state that the market is more quality-driven at the moment, demand from the export market is strong.
“We are getting really good demand from the export channel, especially where weather is affecting a lot of the ports,” he tells me. “As far as I know, though, no one is really flooding the market, which is affecting overall volume.”
Greg reiterated the strength in export demand, saying that this is normal for the summer season. “I believe there is an uptick in demand but it is more quality-driven at the field level,” Greg said. “During the summer months, like many commodities, broccoli can be adversely affected by the longer growing days and warmer nights, and some varieties are just more susceptible to these quality issues."
It is a sentiment that Jason echoed, reflecting the work growers go through to get the best quality product to the retail shelves.
“Right now quality is completely weather based,” Jason said, adding that growers can face a number of complications when maintaining a healthy crop, such as branchy instead of tight heads, some hollow stems, brown, yellow, and purple bead.
The key to this is combating weather issues, according to Greg, is to be selective on the field to make sure quality is maintained.
Even with the quality issues that most growers endure during the summer months in the broccoli commodity, and more selective harvesting being required in the field, D'Arrigo Bros. of California is projecting decent broccoli supplies the next couple of weeks.
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