Good supply of strawberries on tap for Valentine’s Day
Good supply of strawberries on tap for Valentine’s Day
Though some reports indicated that there could be a supply gap for strawberries in early February that would affect Valentine’s Day, industry representatives in both Florida and California do not expect that to be the case.
“Supplies should be adequate,” said Shawn Pollard, who sits on the sales desk for Astin Strawberry Exchange LLC in Plant City, FL. “We are going to have good supplies, but there won’t be a lot of extra berries available. Ninety percent of what we will have [for the Valentine’s Day pull] is pre-sold.”
Cindy Jewell, director of marketing for California Giant Berry Farms in Watsonville, CA, said supplies from the Golden State are on the rise, and while no supply gap is expected, “there are never enough berries for Valentine’s Day.”
She said strawberries, especially stem berries, are always popular as a Valentine’s Day gift and no matter how many are produced for that holiday, shippers tend to run out.
But looking at the total supply situation, Jewell said both Florida and Mexico are running ahead of last year’s totals. While California is down a bit, there has been very little rain during the month of January, so February supplies should be significantly greater.
California reached the 1 million tray-per-week level in mid-January, but by the end of the month supplies had dropped below that threshold. It would not be surprising, however, if each week in February produces more berries than the week before.
A strawberry blooms about four weeks prior to the fruit being ripe. So a survey of blooms at any given time reveals volume a month later, barring any weather issues.
As such, Pollard told The Produce News at the end of January that he expects great strawberry volume out of Florida at the end of February and moving into the first two weeks of March. On Jan. 30, Florida strawberry field were loaded with blooms.
Jewell said the Southern California production areas of Orange County and Oxnard received a little bit of rain Jan. 27 but not enough to significantly affect supplies. That rain, in fact, should help the plants and also produce increased supplies in about a month.
For the last week in January, strawberry prices on both coasts were in the mid-teens per flat. Pollard said his pre-sold Valentine’s Day pricing was in the $13-$15 range.
“Nothing less than $13,” he said.
He characterized the 2014-15 season as a “good year — much better than last year.”
