The demand for lettuce has been on the softer side. "It has been tepid. For romaine, it's a little stronger but iceberg demand has been particularly weak," says Mark Vaughan of Fresh Avenue.
This comes following a warm summer in California which has impacted both the quality and yields of lettuce–more so iceberg though. "We're in the last ⅓ of our season in Salinas and typically we do start running into quality issues at this time of year," says Vaughan, adding that many growers are seeing yields that are 10-20 percent less due to quality issues. "However I believe the issues are greater this year because of the several periods of hot weather this season that we don't typically have."
However, the markets haven't reacted much to that decreased supply. "If there is a peak in demand, I believe supply will become an issue because the standards aren't being met on the yields," he says.
After all, growers are not planting as much iceberg lettuce as they used to because of the increase in input costs. "We used to plant extra, knowing that we could sell that on the open market. Those costs have changed so much that we as an industry don't do that anymore. So if demand increases or there's a weather event, we have less ability to respond to that event," Vaughan says.
Demand meeting lower supply
Yet demand may continue to remain soft thanks partly to the state of the economy right now. "We're generally seeing reduced traffic for people eating out. If demand remains soft through transition, we'll probably be okay on supply," he says, adding that forecasted acreage on the desert plantings is similar to last year, if not slightly less. (Last year already had less acreage than the previous year in the desert region.) "So if demand picks up, there could be some tightness."
As far as pricing, romaine has been active and firmed up somewhat while iceberg markets are still fairly low.
Looking ahead, it's anticipated that lettuce production will finish up in Salinas the week of November 18.
For more information:
Mark Vaughan
Fresh Avenue
Tel: + 1-888-FRESH40
[email protected]
www.freshavenue.com