I Love Produce, leaders in global sourcing and the marketing of garlic and value added garlic products, note a milestone in their garlic history. For the first time in my twenty years in the garlic business, the marketplace is accepting Chinese garlic at the same price level as California garlic, said Jim Provost, President of I Love Produce. This is important to our company because we have worked hard to reinforce the value and the safety of the garlic we sell, regardless of its origin, and now the consumers are showing their confidence with their purchasing decisions.
Food Safety and traceability issues about Chinese garlic have been thoroughly addressed by I Love Produce and its suppliers. The garlic we market is coded with the ability to trace the product back to its origin. Said Provost. In addition, we use third-party food safety audits from BRC, GlobalGap and HACCP to ensure the quality and integrity of our products. 12 Billion pounds of Chinese garlic is consumed per year, and it has been as safe and wholesome as any other garlic with zero issues related to food safety. The trade has confidence in Chinese garlic, regardless of some of the mis-information that is in the consumer media about food products from China.
USDA terminal market reports published on the Market News website reflect this trend. In terminal market reports throughout the United States, Chinese garlic is listed side-by-side with California garlic at very similar prices. For instance, in Boston peeled garlic is listed at $46 per case for Chinese garlic and $48 per case for California garlic, in Chicago at $42 to $44 for Chinese garlic and $40 for California garlic and in Dallas both are listed at $34 per case.
Fresh Garlic shows similarities as well. In the Dallas report both California 30# Colossal and Chinese 30# Colossal were selling for $40 per box in mid-July.
Historically, garlic prices begin to decline as new crop garlic begins to enter the market. However, just when garlic prices traditionally are supposed to go down in price, the market in China and in the United States has stayed strong.
There are several factors at work on the garlic market that are causing this situation.
Farmers started to grow less garlic after due to the oversupply of garlic resulting from the 2008/2009 garlic crop. Market prices during the early part of 2009 were among the lowest in history.
Though about 40% less garlic was grown by the farmers for the 2009/2010 crop, there was still an abundance of storage garlic in the cold storages from the previous year s bumper crop. Also, the dehydration garlic industry had built up large inventories of dehydrated garlic over the years when there was an abundance of cheap garlic available. As a result, though prices increased, there was still a balance between supply and demand coming into this spring.
Now that we are fully into the 2010/2011 new crop garlic, the picture is starting to come together for the coming year. Though we planted more garlic anticipating a higher market, cold weather conditions in the winter and spring led to garlic yields short of a normal crop by 30% to 40%. These numbers are pretty consistent industry wide. Exasperating this situation, storages of fresh garlic and the coffers of dehydrated garlic are dried up and there is not cushion to help ease the transition from the old crop to the new crop garlic.
The market pressure is not limited to China s domestic demand, which is the world s largest. China produces 70% of the world s garlic and supplies 50% of the garlic consumed by the United States. The pressure on the garlic supply is coming from all regions in the world including North America, South America, Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia. California, whose season parallels China s season, has reduced garlic yields as well due to the cold spring weather.
I Love Produce and its offices in China have been involved with exporting grapes, cherries, apples and citrus from the United States to China. The Chinese import company is called Lantao and currently wholesales fruit in the Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenyang and Zhengzhou terminal produce markets. A year ago I mentioned that it would not be far fetched to someday see exports of garlic from California to China, said Provost. This year we had some serious inquiries, and that day may be coming sooner than later.
We are working hard to stay on top of the situation and make sure that our customers that are requesting Chinese garlic or California garlic are covered , explained Provost. What we have learned is the demand for the Chinese garlic is not all about price and our customers have come value its quality and selling attributes.
Contact:
Jim Provost
I Love Produce
Phone: 610-869-4664
www.iLoveProduce.com
Food Safety and traceability issues about Chinese garlic have been thoroughly addressed by I Love Produce and its suppliers. The garlic we market is coded with the ability to trace the product back to its origin. Said Provost. In addition, we use third-party food safety audits from BRC, GlobalGap and HACCP to ensure the quality and integrity of our products. 12 Billion pounds of Chinese garlic is consumed per year, and it has been as safe and wholesome as any other garlic with zero issues related to food safety. The trade has confidence in Chinese garlic, regardless of some of the mis-information that is in the consumer media about food products from China.
USDA terminal market reports published on the Market News website reflect this trend. In terminal market reports throughout the United States, Chinese garlic is listed side-by-side with California garlic at very similar prices. For instance, in Boston peeled garlic is listed at $46 per case for Chinese garlic and $48 per case for California garlic, in Chicago at $42 to $44 for Chinese garlic and $40 for California garlic and in Dallas both are listed at $34 per case.
Fresh Garlic shows similarities as well. In the Dallas report both California 30# Colossal and Chinese 30# Colossal were selling for $40 per box in mid-July.
Historically, garlic prices begin to decline as new crop garlic begins to enter the market. However, just when garlic prices traditionally are supposed to go down in price, the market in China and in the United States has stayed strong.
There are several factors at work on the garlic market that are causing this situation.
Farmers started to grow less garlic after due to the oversupply of garlic resulting from the 2008/2009 garlic crop. Market prices during the early part of 2009 were among the lowest in history.
Though about 40% less garlic was grown by the farmers for the 2009/2010 crop, there was still an abundance of storage garlic in the cold storages from the previous year s bumper crop. Also, the dehydration garlic industry had built up large inventories of dehydrated garlic over the years when there was an abundance of cheap garlic available. As a result, though prices increased, there was still a balance between supply and demand coming into this spring.
Now that we are fully into the 2010/2011 new crop garlic, the picture is starting to come together for the coming year. Though we planted more garlic anticipating a higher market, cold weather conditions in the winter and spring led to garlic yields short of a normal crop by 30% to 40%. These numbers are pretty consistent industry wide. Exasperating this situation, storages of fresh garlic and the coffers of dehydrated garlic are dried up and there is not cushion to help ease the transition from the old crop to the new crop garlic.
The market pressure is not limited to China s domestic demand, which is the world s largest. China produces 70% of the world s garlic and supplies 50% of the garlic consumed by the United States. The pressure on the garlic supply is coming from all regions in the world including North America, South America, Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia. California, whose season parallels China s season, has reduced garlic yields as well due to the cold spring weather.
I Love Produce and its offices in China have been involved with exporting grapes, cherries, apples and citrus from the United States to China. The Chinese import company is called Lantao and currently wholesales fruit in the Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenyang and Zhengzhou terminal produce markets. A year ago I mentioned that it would not be far fetched to someday see exports of garlic from California to China, said Provost. This year we had some serious inquiries, and that day may be coming sooner than later.
We are working hard to stay on top of the situation and make sure that our customers that are requesting Chinese garlic or California garlic are covered , explained Provost. What we have learned is the demand for the Chinese garlic is not all about price and our customers have come value its quality and selling attributes.
Contact:
Jim Provost
I Love Produce
Phone: 610-869-4664
www.iLoveProduce.com
