As for albacore, market price is over $3800 now and with basically no fish available. The season of albacore in the Indian/Pacific Ocean has long ended and the next season is still a few months away. Packers are in the market now fighting for albacore raw material and prices are moving up on a day to day basis. The cold storage facilities in the northern area of Japan are nowhere ready to begin to rebuild, so the freezing capacity in northern Japan will be a huge question.  Japan is a major world factor in albacore tuna.  Some reports are that the Japanese government will set a catching restriction on its oceans this year, which will cause fishing vessels to go north for the catch. So all of these problems will definitely have an impact on this year’s summer albacore catch. We will have to very carefully monitor this situation. But from now until we are certain about the Japanese summer albacore catch volume, there seems little hope for any price drop on raw fish prices.

Tongol raw material is also short, and will be further stressed due to the strong albacore pricing which will force people to use the lower cost Tongol in place of albacore.

The big concern in olive oil now is a potential Marketing Order on Olive Oil.  This was conceptualized to put a stop to those importing or marketing adulterated olive oil.  A marketing order will raise the cost on all the legitimate olive oil now sold, perhaps 98% of what is consumed, so this kind of backwards initiative is not a welcome proposal to those of us with integrity.  All buyers should be aware that if they are quoted an unusually low price on any grade of olive oil, be it Extra Virgin, Pure, or Pomace, you should be very cautious.  Schreiber Foods International, Inc. advocates punishing the purveyors of illegitimate food products to the fullest extent of the law, but not to create cost and logistical burdens for the huge majority of bona fide importers and marketers whose cost will be passed on to consumers.

Normally this month is a time of major production, so the lack of raw materials has Thai packers worried; they’ve begun to buy up whatever raw material they can find, at any price. Pricing on Whole Baby Corn and Cut Baby Corn is likely to increase in the short term on these concerns, and we won’t see any potential relief until the new harvest in May/June.

These government actions should help keep canned pineapple prices at a reasonable level and avoid a sudden decline. The summer crop is expected to be around 600,000 tons; taking out 200,000 tons of fruit will greatly help balance the overall supply and demand situation. Also, the quality of fruit isn’t expected to be very good because this situation has been going on for a while and farmers haven’t been taking care of their plantations very well. They didn’t spend money on fertilizers since they were rightfully concerned about not being able to sell the fruit anyway.

The Manzanilla crop was especially affected: it’s down by almost 30% from last year and the average size is also slightly smaller. The harvest of the Hojiblanca variety that is mainly used for ripe olives was similar to last year. The volume of Queen (Gordal) olives is also significantly lower than last year, down by almost 25%, with the larger sizes especially short (70-100 ct) and expensive. Overall prices are similar to last year’s levels; only the Queen olives are more expensive.

The Peruvian currency, the Sol, has appreciated about 6% against the US$ in the most recent 6 months, making exports less profitable. Labor cost has increased which is a major factor in the production of agricultural products that are highly labor intensive. More than one packer indicates that they may discontinue production of jalapeno peppers this year altogether because they can’t compete with India and Mexico any longer.

Turkey meanwhile had a very poor crop last year and most packers have just started indicating that they have to cut their contracts short on all varieties of peppers, like pepperoncini and jalapenos. There seems to be a good supply of fire-roasted peppers coming out of Peru, although at somewhat higher prices than last year.

The overall production output is lower than last year and most packers have packed for contracts only. Domestic demand for fresh fruit has also been very strong, resulting in high raw material prices for packers.

Since there are only a handful of packers that can export to the U.S. without having to pay a high anti-dumping duty, they have been holding their prices firm. The largest Indian packer normally matches the Chinese prices, but good fresh-pack Chinese Champignon mushroom pieces and stems that we carry under the Ambrosia brand will always be more desirable than the much larger and darker Indian mushroom pieces. We may see cheaper offers for Indian mushrooms on the short-run as the largest packer is trying to get rid of some unsold inventories.

There is not significant raw material available in Peru this year to fill the pipeline; therefore the upcoming Spanish crop is very important.  The early indication, if the weather cooperates this coming Spring, is for a very high yielding crop.