March Madness.

For many March is a month for exciting basketball games with hopes of a great Cinderella story. For those of us in the produce business March is more excitingly the month that potato and onion lovers start eating again! After a month of poor movement lets break down where we stand.

SWEET POTATOES:
Steady as they go with all shipper trying to prepare quotes to try and capture their share of the Easter push. Jumbos are short leaving plenty of #1's in all shipping districts.

ONIONS:
Yellows are still shipping from WA/ID in volume with some shippers finishing up and several more to come. Good volume is coming across from Mexico and the price has drifted south to try and compete with the Northwest product. Texas shipments will start in the next 10 days with heavy volume 14-20 days out.

Reds are plentiful in WA,ID,NV but slim from Mexico. Prices are stable
Whites are plentiful in WA,ID,NV and plentiful from Mexico. Your price is available.

POTATOES:
Reds are still coming from WA,ND,CA, Canada and new crop shipping from Florida. Florida has thus far been successful holding their price up which has allowed ND to command good prices as well.

Yellows shipping from CO, WA, ID, Canada and new crop as well from Florida with very tight availability. Ca will start near the end of March.

Whites are shipping from CA and FL with the later having the best quality but higher price. CA will settle in near the end of March as they start the Desert crops.

Russets. Idaho is suffering from poor growing conditions and is making it hard for those who have become used to beautiful appearing russets. They are Sound but are not as pleasing to the eye as usual. This said they have been able to sustain their pricing and having a tough time getting enough of the larger sizes to fill tthe demand. WA, WI, ME, CO & Canada are still shipping and their product is looking very nice.

I hope this brief recap has been helpful and feel free to call and let us do the homework for you. Enjoy your Day!

Freedom Kongvold
Philip G Ball Co
570-586-5700

Weather & New Crop

It seems that weather and the coming of new crop are the most impacting influences at the moment. Lets take a look.

POTATOES:
Russets.........
>Idaho has had severe freezing temperatures for the last week and it doesn't look like they are going to warm up yet. This of course limits what they have available for shipping since they cannot transport their potatoes from storage to the packing shed. Thankfully the movement has been light so they aren't backed up in a bad way, they are though not trying to move anything extra. Even #2's are not available at a discount anymore.
>CO is still short of supplies and WI is having a good year with plenty of business which also means they are able to command a higher price.
>canada still has nice product

Reds..........
Still shipping from ND, WA, CA. Quality from WA is great and ND is shipping some nice product as well. CA is the normal light pink color. BIG NEWS>>> NEW CROP STARTING in FLORIDA February 1st!!! Product should be nice and pricing will be set this week.

Whites......
CA is the only option until FLORIDA starts next week. Quality in CA is not so great but it's all thats available. Love it or leave it.

Yukons.....
WA is cleaning up, CA is shipping, Canada is also an option for good quality.

ONIONS:
Yellows.....
First put your head in your hands and repeat after me..."UhhOhh". That's where we are in the the yellows onion deal. ID & WA have heavy volumes of JUmbo & Medium yellows with Mexico hot on their tails. Prices are at the bottom and shipper's are losing money packing them. WI, MI, NY & Canada also are very heavy in medium & prepak yellows. CO is cleaing up.

Reds....
Maintaing a nice price. No real movement either up or down.

Whites.....
WA & ID are shipping but quality is just soso. Good enough to get by if that's what you want. NV still in at higher prices and now Mexican whites available with good quality and more reasonable pricing.

Enjoy your week and keep the emails coming!

Freedom Kongvold
Philip G. Ball Co.
freedomk@epix.net

Let's get this year started.

Let me start by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. I hope this year brings you closer to whatever it is you hold close to your heart. If it's produce then you are for sure at the right place. Produce so far this year is moving at a quick pace. All markets are loading heavy with all items...the question is do they need it or are they just hedging waiting for some business to pickup? East coast seems a litlle quite so far. Lets break it down:

POTATOES-
>REDS - are moving briskly from ND, MN, & WA. Prices are drifting up and with the frost in FL there now is a question mark on what new crop yields and start date will be. Rumor is that the frost will mainly impact the availability in mid FL season and not the starting and ending fields.
>YELLOWS- steady as she goes. There seems to be a perfect balance in supply and demand on these. Prices and availability are steady.
>RUSSETS- HOT! Tight supplies and strong demand has this market feeling strong. Buyers can get what they need but may have need to stay booked ahead and be willing to see slight increases in price along the way. Will this change come the end of January? What is your thought?

SWEET POTATOES - Party is over..back to business..nothing more to say.

ONIONS-
>REDS - mainly shipping from WA, ID and availability is mixed, Washington shippers to have plenty and ID shippers have few. Prices are spread about $2.00 per 25# between shippers.
>YELLOWS- plenty of supply in WA, ID and CO is ending soon. Small ones are still shipping from Canada, NY, WI & MI in plenty.
>WHITES - market jumped a little on whites in the last 2 weeks and then settled down a bit. WA,ID,NV are all shipping with Mexican whites starting now.
>SWEETS - name your flavor. There is still a good supply of of shore sweets available with the Mexican sweets starting. And lets not forget about WA sweets along the way which are looking real nice.

ORGANICS - good supply available on potatos and onions in organics with quality still looking good.

Hope this helps...let us know what we can do to make you new year better than the last.

Freedom Kongvold
Philip G Ball CO
freedomk@epix.net

Holidays have arrived

The Holidays have officially arrived and produce is in full flow with strong demand on all potatoes, sweet potatoes and ...... that's it! Onions are still the dog as every region has plenty and all regions are showing excellent quality. Usually the country balances itself with supply and quality but every grower has hit triple 7's so that means that every grower has no advantage. Let's do a quick recap.

Onions - loading in WA. ID, OR, CO, NV, UT, WI, MI, NY and Canada for starters. Markets on yellows are at their bottoms with reds showing some signs of life and whites even stronger. Lots of whites available but few looking fancy.

Sweet Potatoes - LA, MS, NC are all in full flow with orders up to their ears. #1's are plentiful in all areas leaving Jumbo's & Two's a little short of what the markets require for Thanksgiving movement. Order commitments were a little late coming this year but they have officially shown up for the big dance.

Potatoes
Idaho's - we are in the middle of a strong market on all sizes. Small bag business has everyone booked out and shippers are feeling confident on moving the market up weekly on cartons. The big push should tail off by next week so the question to be answered is will this also curb the rising market? What's your guess?

Russets - nice quality from all areas being CO, WI, MI, ME, WA & Canada. Prices are value based and deals are being struck.

Reds - ND is looking great. Nice dark red color..an excellent crop this year. Of course the premium stuff is still from Mt Vernon and movement is good. Reds are also in the other normal areas but quality is just OK comparably.

Whites - East coast is happy with whites coming from NJ, ME and Canada. West of OH is happy with the whites from WI. Weather has been OK in Mt Vernon the source for the fancy stuff but rain is setting in and the cold is quickly approaching. Best to be ahead.

Yukons - Beautiful from Mt Vernon and Idaho. WHAT! That's right IDAHO! The yellows are looking great so far but supply is short. Also yellows from from the other areas is available in great supply and are all equally the same. Had samples from the best fields in all areas here to compare and all are pretty much equal after WA & ID.

There is your posting for the day. As always we are here to guide you when you're ready so just give us a call or email. Have a TREMENDOUS Day!

Freedom Kongvold
Philip G Ball Co.
570-586-5700

New Crop Everything.

That's right, New Crop everything is the key word for this time of year. Lets get down to it.

SWEET POTATOES..new crop green sweet potatoes are coming out of MI & LA and cured old crop is still available in NC.

ONIONS..the new crop storage varieties should be starting this week in WA and ID has gotten their feet under them and are ready to go. Prices have no wher to go but up but probably will not happen quite yet. CA is cleaning up and CO is playing their higher price game. NY state and Canada also are in with the smaller sizes and EVERYBODY IS LOOKING FOR BUSINESS!

POTATOES..New crop russets from all sectors, new crop reds have been coming form MN in expensively and now WA will start with their fancy stuff. Yukons & Whites are available from MN,CA,WA and are some great some fair..shop with caution.

If you need information in detail on any 1 item just give me a call or send an email and I will do what I can.

Have a Tremendous day!

Freedom Kongvold
Philip G Ball CO
freedomk@epix.net

Current Update as of June 19th

Onions...lots of reds and whites and few supplies on smaller yellows right now. California shipping heavy but without small sizes on yellows and New Mexico trying to get to full speed currently with plenty of small size yellows but sold out due to high demand. Washington is starting with Walla Walla's and winter-overs and also Texas on the horizon. Markets should change in the next 10 days as more supplies come on.

Potatoes... Whites & Yellows coming heavy from CA with stable prices. Russets finished up in WI but coming strong from ID, CA and CO. Reds are plentiful in CA with cheap prices and there are still supplies shipping from AZ and FL. TX and NC will start in the next 10 days.

Call us for your every need.


Enjoy your day!

Freedom Kongvold
Philip G Ball Co
freedomk@epix.net

Clouds around my ankles?

Well the sky has fallen on the historical onion market so much that the clouds are around my ankles. Potato prices have also calmed down and now we can get down to business. Lets recap.

POTATOES:
Russets are steady as they go in Idaho. 60's and large still tight but 2's and small spuds readily available. Wisconsin is winding down and are still shipping good quality at this time. Whites are in season in CA and look very nice. Yukons also shipping from CA and the price is down a bit from last week and will continue to adjust into next week as more guys go online with heavy volume. Reds...practically every state. CA, AZ, FL, TX and ND are all shipping. My pick for best color is AZ and best value would be FL. Value meaning where color and price meet appropriately.

SWEET POTATOES:
Tight..quantities are getting slim so be patient.

ONIONS:
South TX is trying to clean up with lots of volume availble which has caused a sloppy market. At the same time southern CA also has heavy vloume and is looking for orders. West TX is starting next week and we will see where this thing is headed. Right now it almost seems buyers can name their prices and shippers are grudgingly accepting. We will see what happens when TX cleans up.

Have a tremendous day.

Freedom Kongvold
Philip G Ball CO
570-586-5700