Along with New York, the Philadelphia Wholesale market was also affected by the snow storm which hit the east coast over the weekend. However, the rainy weather in Florida during the last few weeks has had an even greater impact on the market and its prices. The switch to Mexican supply is expected to help soften prices over the next couple of weeks.
The storm did slow down business a little bit the last couple of days in the terminal market. Retailers and restaurants were impacted over the weekend which meant that they bought less fruit and veg, but customers have made it back to the market. Things should get back to normal over the next couple of days, once parking lots are cleared and people are getting out a bit more.
According to Richie Mastero at Ryeco, a fruit and vegetable receiver and distributor operating out of the Philadelphia wholesale market, "Everything should be status quo by the weekend. Incoming shipments from Mexico, Florida, California were slowed by one day and customers traffic has been backed up by two days. Things should be caught up as soon as tomorrow. The storm affected the every day life in the East coast more than the industry itself."
Weather that has been having a large impact on the industry, is the recent rains in Florida.
Florida volumes sporadic
According the David DiPascale from A. Vassallo Inc., a wholesaler also located at the Philadelphia wholesale market, "The quality coming out of Florida has been very sporadic with certain commodities and we just haven't been able to get any consistent volumes. There will be a few days where there is volume and then you'll go for another 4 or 5 days where you can't get any product due to the weather, which is uncommon for this time of the year. There is a huge fluctuation from week to week on prices. Prices are considerably higher than they usually are this time of year. Items such as eggplant, variety peppers, squash, cabbage, tomatoes and corn are not at the normal volumes you would usually see this time of the year."
Mastero agrees, "The whole industry has been suffering the last two months. Western veg has been high. Many items have been in the high $40's, low $50's per case and usually only one or two items, like strawberries or lettuce can get to that level over the winter. On average, with good production, prices are in the high teens. Onion prices have stayed high, for example, Spanish onions have gone from $14 per case to the $18-19 range."
"Florida has been wiped out by the recent rains, they have been taken out of the equation when it comes to tomatoes, but they were about finished anyway. The shift is now to Mexico, as usual, this time of the year."
