Tuesday, April 25, 2006

What started as a wet, discouraging month rapidly morphed into seasonal normal volumes.

Fooling virtually everyone in the trade, California strawberry production literally turned on a dime and doubled Easter Week. While we saw the crop in the field, we just did not recognize how fast it was moving through the system. Shippers in the Irvine and San Diego region certainly enjoyed the pre Easter activity, and then Oxnard really exploded into full production almost overnight. The crop production curve literally went straight up. Given a strong market, Easter, and crops in the field, there was just no holding back.

What's next?

While the rain has stopped, it is still coolish in the Watsonville production district. It is simply going to take another week or two before Watsonville becomes a significant part of the deal. This means to us that most of the action for Mothers Day promotions will be in Oxnard and Santa Maria. The good news is that there is no serious weather on the horizon for California. There should be plenty of promotional volume available from now through July. Watsonville will likely be in play for Memorial Day and beyond.