Best Articles of 2018

Rounding off on the year we are happy to publish the articles that have been best received by our readers. The measure used is a combination of readership from the articles published on Freshfruitportal.com, readership from the blog and referrals received to the Agronometrics.com from either source. After some number crunching here is our best of for 2018.

As an added bonus, all the charts to these reports have been updated with live links, so that users can access these reports with up to date values live on Agronometrics.com

1. Blueberries in Charts: With prices at their highest so far this year, will they continue to rise?

2. Blueberries in Charts: Peru, reshaping the U.S. blueberry market

3. Lemons in Charts: Massive import growth in tandem with rising prices

4. Avocados in Charts: Mexico could see high fall prices despite U.S. supply forecast

5. Grapes in Charts: How will Peru’s sharp volume increase affect the U.S. market?

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Blueberries in Charts: Chile fetches high opening prices, but how might the season play out?

One of the best examples of the relationship between prices and volumes in fresh produce can be observed in blueberries, as demonstrated almost perfectly by the chart below. With prices in October closing out at the highest level we have seen since 2015, this article will explore what kind of scenario we might expect of Chile in the coming months.

US Blueberry Prices and Volumes (Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics)
[Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here]
Let’s set the scene a bit. Chile is nestled in a strategic spot, completely countercyclical to U.S. production. Until recently, it pretty much had the run on the market during the U.S. winter months, only really contending with Argentina in October and November before Florida starts up again in May. It’s only in the last five years that we have seen significant competition encroaching in, introducing Peru at the beginning of the season and Mexico right at the end.

US Blueberry Volumes by Origin (Source: US…

Avocados in Charts: How does the Mexican growers’ strike compare to 2016?

As Mexican producers head into the third week of strikes, volumes are falling away and prices are spiking. At least that’s what we could see while the USDA still had enough volume to report on prices which was only until October 31st.

This isn’t the first time Mexican producers have gone on strike, so I wanted to dive a bit into the data and see what insights we might gain from past strikes to help guide the stormy waters of that may lie ahead.

US Avocado Prices and Volumes (Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics)
[Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here]
The last time this happened was in 2016, when there were two events that caught my attention, and I think that both have lessons to offer.

The first event was a strike was right before the 4th of July promotion. The cause of the strike is relatively straightforward – with prices at a near-historic low, producers took matters into their own hands and stopped picking. This action cut the volume of exports an…

Fruit in Charts - What happens to USDA market data when the US Government Shutsdown?

As U.S. politicians lock horns over funding for the border wall, the government has partially shut down, stopping most non-essential services. While in the past this has included those provided by the USDA market news service – where we get our market data from - things have changed this year.

In this article I will briefly look at why the government shuts down at all - which must be mind boggling for anybody not from the U.S.… and quite frankly for most of us from the U.S. as well - and also see what will happen to our precious market data as a consequence.

So why would any government set itself up to hold as hostage the services it provides to its citizenship to its politicians partisan goals? It seems like an unnecessarily frustrating situation that few other countries in the world seem to face. The reason is because of the separations of power written into the U.S. constitution, where both congress and the president must agree on a budget before the government can spend money. As…

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