“Demand is fair to poor for bell peppers,” says Jay Johnson of JGL Produce Co. Inc. in Immokalee, Fl. “There’s been a lot of cold weather in the Northeast and that’s been holding demand back. Any kind of bad weather holds demand back on bells.”
That said, supply has been good in the season, which began in November and winds down in May. “This week and next week there will be really good production and then after that, we’ll have to see what the acreage is like,” says Johnson. “There’s probably slightly less compared to last year overall in terms of supply.”
Grower trends
At the same time, Johnson notes that there are still some green bell peppers coming out of West Mexico, though that region is winding down its season. And on the West Coast, California has bell peppers too. At the same time, Johnson says there’s been a continual decrease by growers of peppers in the U.S. “It’s expensive to grow bell peppers and the acreage continues to be cut back overall by most growers. There’s an overall lack of excitement with peppers,” he says. “Growers have been cutting over time and it’s due to import pressures. In Florida we see it with peppers and tomatoes.”
Collectively that’s made for some less than optimal pricing. “Pricing is poor—overall last season, pricing was bad and it’s been cut back,” says Johnson who notes that at the same time, Florida is seeing quality peppers this year thanks to a dry Florida season. “There’s been almost no rain here and that makes for really nice bells,” he says.
Looking ahead, a potential production gap could be coming which could boost availability. “I think Georgia is not going to come in early with bell peppers,” says Johnson. “So there’ll be a small window of a production gap. Georgia’s had cool weather and the soil temperature isn’t ideal. That cool weather is holding all their crops back.”
For more information:
Jay Johnson
JGL Produce Co. Inc.
Tel: +1 (239) 657-5000
jay@jglproduce.com