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The
U.S. Department of Agriculture reported the following prices on
11-pound cartons of bunched green asparagus from the following
countries: *Prices from the USDA's National F.O.B. Review, Nov.14. Plenty of good-quality asparagus from Peru, Mexico and Chile should be available for last-minute Thanksgiving orders, importers report. A potential fumigation issue involving Peruvian asparagus a few weeks ago was resolved without incident, but product temporarily was delayed for a few days, and some cautious importers canceled Thanksgiving ads, said Jeff Friedman, president and sales manager at Carb Americas Inc., Pompano Beach, Fla. As a result, asparagus will not be a heavy ad item for newspapers, he said, "but it will probably be an in-store ad item." Quality is good, and air freight is "high but not exorbitant," Friedman said. In the event that green beans are tight this Thanksgiving, as Friedman has heard they are, chains might substitute asparagus, he said. Peruvian asparagus has a good reputation, he added. "Peru probably grows the best asparagus in the world," Friedman said. Just a decade ago, asparagus was considered a luxury item, priced in the high $20s or low $30s, he said. Now that everyone is able to buy it, it has become almost a staple. Peruvian asparagus is available primarily from June until mid-February, he said. Mexican asparagus has peak volume in January and February, then California product comes on, followed by Washington, Michigan then back to Peru. White asparagus also is available. White is more decorative and typically is peeled before cooking, Friedman said. In Los Angeles, Jerry Murray, who runs the asparagus and melon departments for Valley Fruit & Produce Co., was selling asparagus from Mexico when he received his first shipment from Chile Nov. 14. Chilean product has a short window, he said, and should be available until late December. Murray had not yet seen the Chilean asparagus, but he described Mexican product as having good quality, though a bit light in color and "a little seedy," but he said, "It has some strength to it," and it is holding up well on arrival. On the other hand, Peruvian asparagus currently is "a headache," he said. "The Peruvian (asparagus) arriving right now in L.A. has lots of quality issues with dehydration or some tip decay or breakdown," Murray said. He switched from Peruvian product to Mexican product, though he said the Peruvian asparagus has a tighter head to it. "When you get a good arrival, it's nice," he said. Murray expected to have asparagus from his current growing area in Mexico until mid-December, when supplies will switch to Caborca. "We could have Mexico (asparagus) through December," he said, though maybe not in high volume the entire time. Asparagus is one of the bigger items for Thanksgiving, he added. The commodity spiked in September then "crashed and burned," Murray said. But since then, it's had a "normal marketing tier." Unlike Murray, Steve White, salesman at Seminole Produce Distributing Inc., Sanford, Fla., did not mention any quality problems with the Peruvian asparagus he was receiving. "Typically the quality is very good out of Peru," he said. "Over the past five or six years, they've really gotten good at it down there." This season was no exception, he said, as he reported good quality, though lighter volume because of cooler temperatures. In fact, he said the season usually peaks in October, but it just now is reaching a high point because of the cool weather. Markets have been strong, he added. (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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