A cooler-than-usual early spring and sporadic rains caused wholesale organic strawberry prices to rise this week, but as the weather warms up this month, promotable supplies should follow.

Hector Aguilera, who is in sales for Los Angeles-area organic wholesaler Heath & Lejeune, told OPN Connect on April 15 that the previous week’s rain resulted in a price spike, but he anticipates that by the end of April, the volume will be sufficient to allow for retail promotions.

Hector Aguilera, Sales Representative, Heath & Lejeune

“There are plenty of strawberries around this week from both California and Mexico, but there are some quality problems with variable sizing,” he said. “I think we will work through these problems this week, and by next week or the week after, there should be a lot of available fruit.”

Aguilera noted that because of the drop in supplies of high-quality organic strawberries, Monday’s market price was up to the mid-$30s. “But we know there is a lot of fruit out there. Once we get some good, warm days, which is in the forecast, California will start producing big volumes.”

Aguilera added that organic strawberries from Mexico are helping to fill the gap, but once California hits its stride, most retailers will switch to the fruit from the Golden State.

Anthony Gallino, sales manager for Bobalu Berries, which is headquartered in Oxnard, California, agreed that the cooler weather and intermittent rain is altering the California strawberry deal this year. He said the volume increase has slowed down, and as a result, he is expecting a longer, drawn-out peak, with slightly less volume on a weekly basis.

Anthony Gallino, Sales Manager, Bobalu Berries

In past years, California strawberry volume typically peaks from late April through June, with total volume (organic and conventional strawberries) in the range of 8 to 9 million cartons per week in the most voluminous weeks, with Mother’s Day usually coinciding with a peak week. Volume usually remains solid throughout the summer.

The first week of April this year saw California produce almost 4 million trays of strawberries, with organic berries representing less than 4 percent of that. That percentage should increase as the berries move into their peak period. California produces about 95 percent of the nation’s organic strawberries.

Gallino expects the strawberry volume ramp-up to take a little longer than usual this season. He is predicting 5-6 million trays per week by the beginning of May and is not sure the 8 million weekly number will be reached this season. He did say that there should be plenty of California strawberries, both organic and conventional, for Mother’s Day promotions.

He confirmed that organic strawberries were scarce and highly priced, but he does expect that to change within a couple of weeks. “All we need are some warm nights and days, and the volume will kick in,” he said. “The plants are loaded with fruit.”

While there was a huge gap this week between conventional and organic strawberries (about $16 for conventional and $35 for organic), Gallino said that gap will narrow considerably as the season wears on. “Once we are hitting 125,000 to 150,000 trays of organic berries per day, the FOB price [of the two sectors] will be close to each other,” he predicted.

Gallino said Bobalu’s strawberry production was in its peak volume period in Oxnard, the company’s southernmost district, while the fields in Santa Maria were seeing a slow, steady climb in numbers, and Watsonville growers were just getting started. “It’s slow going up here,” he said from his Monterey County office. “That’s just going to extend the peak weeks a little bit more.”

"Once we get some good, warm days, which is in the forecast, California will start producing big volumes." - Hector Aguilera

Though the team from California Giant Berry Farms in Watsonville was not available for an interview, they did post a crop update on the company’s website for April 15, sharing a similar outlook as the reps from Heath & Lejeune and Bobalu.

The report noted that the Oxnard area is yielding good-quality fruit, though there is some decay because of the recent rains. “Crews are working hard to keep packs clean,” the update said. “Weather is forecasted to warm up and be dry after weekend rain.”

Noting the sunny forecast for Oxnard this week, the report said current volume is steady and should increase.

For the Santa Maria deal, California Giant reported that for both conventional and organic fruit, weather has impacted quality to some regard, but “warm, dry weather is forecasted for this week, and growers will be focused on cleaning up fruit. … Volumes are anticipated to quickly increase with the forecasted warm weather.”

The Watsonville/Salinas district is also looking at warming temperatures, which California Giant noted will allow growers to clean up fields and the fruit to ripen. “Production is anticipated to increase quickly through April as weather improves,” said the weekly update.