“The market is coming off a holiday weekend, so I think it will be a slow week,” noted Jeff Friedman with Carbamericas. “But I think things will pick up next week when we'll see better demand from consumers.” Retailers will likely put out more ads promoting asparagus, he added, and plentiful supplies from Mexico could meet the demand created by those promotions.
On July 6, prices for an 11-pound carton of large bunched asparagus from Mexico were between $16.75 and $19.75 at crossings through Texas, and prices for a carton of jumbo bunched asparagus from Peru were between $24.00 and $26.00 at South Florida ports of entry; prices for cartons of large bunched asparagus from Peru were between $20.00 and $22.75.
Peruvian production has slowed in the recent weeks as the season there moves into cooler weather. But Friedman sees signs that Peruvian imports could pick up in the near future.
“The price for air freight from Peru went up this week, and that's a red flag that there's more asparagus than people are leading on,” explained Friedman. “That's because air freight going up could be because there's more product at the airport vying for cargo space.”
