Chat - Ksenia Evdokimova May 23

More U.S. apple exporters - this time not from Washington state - are exploring the Russian market, and I chat with Ksenia Evdokimova about the trip today. Ksenia emailed the above picture of the group.

ksenia.evdokimova: (= have just finished with Apple people! 20 members of the group are about to leave St. Pete

1:51 PM me: What a week for you - again. How did their trip go - what were some highlights for our Fresh Talk readers?

1:54 PM ksenia.evdokimova: This visit was a first trip for the group of exporters from Michigan, New York, Virginia, California, Pennsylvania..jee, I hope I didn't miss anyone. Trip consisted of introductory seminar for importers (attracted over 20 interested Russian buyers, with attendance over 90!%), visit to the leading container terminal, meetings with shipping lines, retail and warehouse tour. Interest that Russian buyers showed the group is very inspiring.

For the rest of the chat with Ksenia, follow this link.

How will consumers react?

What will consumers do? That's a big question going forward, as higher costs from pricier inputs and steeper truck rates take their toll on the margins of grower-shippers, wholesalers, retailers and on the budgets of consumers. Will consumers eat less food, cut down on use of their cars, or both? Since everything is costing more, will food be hurt more or less than other categories?

I just visited with another East Coast wholesaler who said the high cost of transportation from the West Coast may result in greater importance of local/regional vegetable production this summer. He said it is not unrealistic to think that $16 broccoli in New York City could be $8 freight, $2 to the wholesaler and $6 to the grower. That makes it tough for that West Coast grower to see much profit opportunity in that market.

Still, supply and demand will dictate what the market does, both for East Coast vegetables and West Coast produce. If consumers adjust more quickly than we think to higher costs, some the damaging effects of the fuel run up could be short lived. On the other hand....

Cold storage report - apples and pears

Apple holdings are up slightly from year ago levels, while pears are off slightly, this USDA cold storage report says. Apples on hand on on April 30 totaled 1.698 billion pounds, up from 1.654 billion at the same time a year ago. Pears in cold storage accounted for 76.1 million pounds, down from 81.7 million pounds the same time a year ago.

                   April 30 2007        April 30 2008                       
                                                                   
CA                 4,842              3,710    
MI                87,067              38,313    
N ENG                442              2,016    
NY               102,144              219,534    
OH                 1,335              250    
OR                14,210              12,142    
PA                77,490              75,012    
VA                52,789              49,530    
WA             1,281,378              1,257,564    
WV                15,181              32,704    
                                                                       
Other States      17,715              7,818    
                                                                   
US             1,654,593              1,698,593

Counterpoint - the energy noncrisis

I saw this on youtube, the speaker doesn't boast scientific credentials in the least, but he does come correct with an assertion that even the Bush Administration agrees with. There is a lot of oil and natural gas that cannot recovered from federal land.