Market Update

Market Snapshot*

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was reporting the following prices on tomatoes out of South Florida:

Loose mature-greens: 25-pound cartons, 85% U.S. No. 1 or better, 5x6 size $13.65, 6x6 size $13.65, 6x7 size $13.65; U.S. No. 2 5x6 size $12.65, 6x6 size $12.65, 6x7 size $12.65.

Cherry tomatoes: Flats of 12 1-pint baskets $9.65.

Grape tomatoes: Flats of 12 1-pint containers with lids $9.65; 20-pound cartons loose $17.65.

Roma tomatoes: 25-pound cartons loose, extra-large $ 9.65; large $8.65; medium $7.65.

*Prices from the USDA's National F.O.B. Review, Jan. 23.

The Shipping Scene

Although some Florida tomatoes were damaged by winds and an early-January freeze, product is available, grower-shippers say, and quality at this point is good.

At Flavor Pic Tomato Co. Inc., Birmingham, Ala., general manager Jerry Williams said the effects of the Florida freeze likely will be felt the most during February and into March. After that, supplies should pick up again, and prices should begin to drop.

For the moment, prices are down, he said, and retailers would do well to promote tomatoes, especially the larger sizes, which seem to be more plentiful than the smaller ones.

This typically is a slow time of year for tomatoes, he said. Demand is down because of higher prices, and even foodservice operators have been cutting back on tomatoes.

Prices should be dropping over the next couple of weeks, though, before heading back up in February.

Overall, the quality of the Florida crop looks good right now, and all varieties, including grape, round, roma, yellow and even gourmet product like tomatoes-on-the-vine and hothouse tomatoes appear to be adequate, Williams said.

Pete Johnson, owner of Quality First Produce Inc., Homestead, seemed frustrated this week over reports that implied that Florida's tomatoes were wiped out. That information "is a fallacy," he said. "We have plenty left."

Quality First has excellent-quality grape tomatoes, romas and large round tomatoes, he said. But because of rumors of shortages, "We're getting no business," he said. "We're suffering."

Homestead has had perfect growing weather, "except for one day," he said, which was marked by high winds and temperatures near the 32-degree mark. Some tomatoes suffered windburn, but that's now grown out.

"We're definitely not out of the picture on supplies," Johnson said. "We can take care of any orders."

Temperatures this week were in the 75- to 80-degree range, he said. If anything, the weather has been too warm, which has made holding back the tomatoes difficult.

Tony DiMare, vice president at DiMare Homestead Inc., said the company has product available, but his outlook was a bit more subdued than Johnson's.

DiMare said all of Florida was affected by cold weather three weeks ago, but while cold weather damaged some tomatoes in the Immokalee-Naples area to the north, wind was the culprit in the Homestead area.

Growers were starting to experience a bit of yield loss due to the bloom damage from the front, he said, adding that occasional wind scarring could be expected.

Yields could be off by 20% starting within the next week or so and could last about three weeks, he said.

Tomatoes out of Homestead may show signs of some cosmetic damage for a few weeks, he added, "but overall quality remains good."

Both Johnson and DiMare said that, despite the weather in Florida, the real factor affecting the tomato deal at this time is Mexico.

"It all depends upon the volume coming out of Mexico," DiMare said. "Florida will not be a factor in the marketplace."

Jim Oglesby, president of Florida-Georgia Produce Inc. in Lakeland, said shipments were just getting started out of Immokalee, where tomatoes suffered some weather damage earlier in the month. As a result, shipments have been restricted to the late plantings.

The freeze finished off some product prematurely and burned some tomatoes that were just about ready to come on, he said.

But like the other growers, he said heavy volume from Mexico was affecting the tomato deal right now more than events in Florida.

"Any dip in the marketplace has got to do with what they're doing out of Mexico," he said, which is typical for this time of year.

Although some tomatoes still were available from Ruskin, he said the later Ruskin crop and the crop in Palmetto "was pretty much wiped out."

"There's no huge volume out of here right now," he said.

(By Tom Burfield, Western correspondent for The Packer. The Packer and Red Book Credit Services are part of food360º, a division of Vance Publishing Corp., Lincolnshire, Ill.)

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