Wholesale prices of fresh condiments in the U.S. have showed a steady flow from February 12 up to Valentine’s Day. The grain stock in the previous market week ending February 9 also ran at surplus with fairly low prices.
California Report
The spotlight state in the Valentine week has been California after late winter floods raised questions on spring supplies.
Apart from anise, all fresh condiments had steady prices, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s February 12 report.
Aragula was selling at $6 to $7 per 1 pound (ib) bag, as supply dwindled but market prices held steady. For basil, bay leaves, celeriac and chives, supply was light in week 2 of February but prices held. Cilantro, however, had fairly steady market prices due to very low offerings from neighboring Mexico.
Lemon grass was costing between $2.50 and $3.50 for a 40-ib carton, while horseradish at $136 per 50-ib sack.
Rosemary ended the array of steady spices at the Los Angeles terminal, albeit with light supply. Each 1 ib bag cost between $4 and $5.75, a fair value for last season’s stocks of rosemary, whose season in California is spring.
National Grain Report
Nationwide, peanut prices were down in the USDA-NASS previous release of February 2. They fell 0.2% from the final week of January, to sell at 26.3 cents a pound. This was however a lesser fall than that of the week ending January 21 when the cost slipped by 27.7 cents.
Wheat, on the other hand, per the WASDE report of February 8, is ample due to lessening grinding. This leaves around 960 million bushels for food use, while 725 million bushels (bu) will go into export. Like the supply metric, the wholesale price of wheat will hold stable for 2024, at $7.20 per bushel.
The same goes for corn, whose supply has increased by 10 million bushels from January through February due to reduced domestic consumption. The increase in stocks comes from lower industrial use of corn in making energy products such as glucose. USDA predicts that the price of corn will hold steady for sometime, at the current $4.80 a bushel.
Similar to corn and wheat, soybean stocks will also remain abundant through February. Due to market competition from Brazil, U.S.’ soy exports are down by 35 million bushels from the January estimate, to settle at 1.72 million bushels. This will leave surplus stocks worth 315 million bu. The February price will fall to $12.65 a bu., 10 cents down from January.
Rice, on the other hand, will dip in supply due to increased use and rising exports. The seasonal median price will not rise as supply ebbs however, but will remain at $18.40 per hundredweight.
Hence, the Valentines Day week has been one of steady wholesale prices for California’s spices amid grain surplus across the U.S.