Good Grief!

The Market Report is a weekly column written by Ken Klein of Klein’s Supermarket in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood. He writes the column for the Art Museum Area News and kindly allows me to post it here. The report is a fascinating look at the forces that drive the quality and price of our food; if you haven’t read it before, check it out!

Executive summary:

• Still with the tomato problems
• Florida is recovering
• Zucchini and cucumbers are the good deals this week.

Read on for the entire report.

The Market Report, by Ken Klein
Klein’s Supermarket, 2401 Pennsylvania Avenue, Philadelphia
Our Hours: M-F 8 AM to 8 PM; Sat. 8 AM to 8 PM; Sunday 9 AM to 1 PM

Greetings food lovers!

Florida update
We all know about the recent events down in Florida. The farmers have been waiting for good news since the most recent hurricane came and went. Weather forecasts seemed optimistic enough for the work to start up again without much fear of another disaster. In the past three weeks, growers down in the sunshine state have prepared the fields for the winter planting season (yet again) and have seeded and placed plastic down to protect the young seedlings. Think tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, eggplant, and any other veggies with sky-high prices. How long will it take for this harvest to come to your favorite store? Think January?

Tomato Update
The tomato market has gone up even more this week. Florida has been in short supply, and the majority of the product has been coming out of northern California. This past week, growing areas in California received more rain in two days than they received all year, which has absolutely ruined the crop. Tomatoes in this area are usually grown without stakes, so they lay on the ground. Although they’re grown on plastic liners to protect the product, the rain did not drain to the surface fast enough, and the tomatoes just melted.

Look for pricing to go way up for the next weeks, as the only regions shipping tomatoes throughout the entire country will be San Diego, Nogales (Mexico), and Florida. There will be hothouse product from Canada available for a “price.” I expect to see prices going up on canned tomatoes and pasta sauces soon. Time will tell on this.

Market Report

• Green peppers continue to be extremely tight and are forecasted to remain so until after Thanksgiving. Prices will be high, with limited supply coming from Florida and Georgia. California is just starting to harvest.
• Green beans have a problem. Supplies are light. Growers are not offering promotions to retailers.
• Iceberg lettuce has begun the transition to the California desert. The prices are expected to remain higher during this period. Leaf lettuce and Romaine will follow this routine and stay high also.
• Cucumbers and green zucchini have become affordable in the past week!
• California Navel oranges are having a slow start. Some fruit was picked last week, but little was picked this week because of rain. The volume of product will not pick up until the second week of November, weather permitting. Expect the oranges to be larger than last year.
• Lemons are hot now, and fruit dealers are now bringing in imported product from Spain and South America to offer alternatives to an expensive domestic lemon.
• The season for Spanish clementines is running a bit behind with the first containers due the first week of November.
• The prices are coming down on Florida citrus, except for grapefruit, which sustained the heaviest damage from the hurricanes.
• California strawberries are finishing up in Watsonville and will now begin harvesting in Oxnard for the fall season. Quality has been reported to be great with “solid berries, light bruising, and a lighter color fruit”. The prices should be reasonable for this time of the year—until we enter the holiday season. Shippers take advantage of the holidays to make extra money when the demand is higher. Supply and demand!

Have a fruitful week!