New garlic is being shipped from Mexico right now while Spain, California, and China are in the middle stages of harvest. “These regions are just beginning to enter the market,” says Jim Provost with I Love Produce. In addition to these four countries/regions, the company also works with Southern Hemisphere garlic from Peru and Argentina that will start their seasons later this year. “We work with the entire cycle of garlic production around the world,” Provost mentioned.
When taking a closer look at Northern Hemisphere supplies, they have been challenged by climate issues. “Spain had rain during their early harvest. This was catastrophic as it caused staining on most of the garlic. Our partner in Spain, Imperio, said the early Spring variety has good size, but dark roots and spotted skins. The Spring variety will need a very precise hand peeling to get a decent bulb with minimal damage.
China’s garlic harvest was also impacted by rain, affecting the quality of the country’s white garlic. “As a result, China’s white garlic is now short in supply.” Weather has also been impacting California’s garlic supplies as the state dealt with a very cold spring, which delayed harvest by about two to three weeks. Now, the state is going through an extreme heat wave in the middle of their late variety garlic harvest. “Garlic doesn’t do well in extreme heat and sun. Additionally, it’s hard on the workers who are trying to bring it in from the fields. Altogether, it is a troublesome situation with chaotic spring weather having an impact on garlic harvests around the world.”
Reduced availability has resulted in an increase in fresh garlic prices by 10 to 20 percent. Pricing on peeled garlic on the other hand has remained stable with more off-grades available for processing.
Quality holds up
While climate is having an impact on production volumes, quality doesn’t seem to be impacted much. “Mexican garlic is beautiful,” commented Provost. “The early variety California garlic is outstanding as it was harvested before the current heat wave,” he added. While Chinese purple garlic is smaller this year, the quality is also excellent and Spain’s Morado garlic is showing very good quality, with just reduced yields for the upcoming season. The Morado size range is medium, with a normal range of 45mm to 55mm in diameter.
Last year, logistics were a real challenge, but at least those problems didn’t carry on. “All is quiet on the logistics fronts now,” Provost shared. “Railway strikes ended as labor issues have been resolved with new contracts. On the port side of things, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) unions representing the USA and Canadian west coast ports have both settled their contract negotiations pending ratification by the union members. As a result, container traffic is normal throughout the US and Canada. Container backlogs have ended for now.”
Source - https://www.freshplaza.com
