Sales’ adverts of grocery specialties in the United States have risen in the June 21-July 3, 2025 timeline, before the Fourth of July. According to the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), peaches have amassed 7% of all non-organic grocery ad placements so far. In the other fruits category are nectarines with 5%, strawberries with 4% and watermelon...
Author: Timothy Wahome (Timothy Wahome)
Prunes from South Africa modestly navigating high demand
South Africa could moderately fill overreaching demand for dried prunes from falling world production in 2025. 2024-25 local production will upswing to 750 tonnes, per a late 2024 projection by the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council (INC). Since international demand is outpacing supplies, contract producers who cannot meet their orders can capitalize on this modest output...
Ground beef price in the United States beefs up 16%, y-o-y
U.S.’ ground beef has reached its priciest point in recent memory, with May 2025 price up by 16%, year-on-year (y-o-y). According to The Cool Down, referencing the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, minced beef in May peaked at $5.98 a pound. Only February 2025’s pricing at 5.625 a pound is comparable, itself below the earlier champ, September...
The Ghana mango sector evolves three-prong processing maximization strategy
Stakeholders in Ghana have engineered a three-tier approach to maximize the processing of the local mango (mangifera indica). They aim to cut post-harvest losses that decimate 30% of the total harvest, especially in the main April-August season. The Tree Crops Development Authority (TDA)’s CEO Dr. Andy Osei Okrah evolved the farmers’ empowerment strategy during a processing zone...
Negros Occidental province in PH distributing 20-peso rice
Sugar-rich Negros Occidental (NegOcc) province in Western Visayas in the Philippines is going palay (unhusked rice) with the 20-peso ($0.35)-per-kg program. After a May 12, 2025 election-time halt, the Department of Agriculture (DA) on June 24 brought the distribution program to Pulupandan town. The Federation of Irrigators’ Association of Central Negros-Bago River Irrigation System (FIACN-BRIS) initially sold 50 bags...
Lobster Canada mulling lukewarm sales in China, U.S.
Canada is recording a slide in summer lobster sales in the United States and China, with the tariff cloud impacting lobstering profits. Although only China’s 25% tariff is currently under force, the United States’ duty moratorium has not helped sales there either. The executive director of the Lobster Processors Association, Nat Richard, opined on...
Coffee pricing uplifts by 3.19% upon weather vagaries in Brazil
Low rain in Brazil’s coffee belt upswung global pricing by 3.19% day-on-day on June 23, 2025, after record lows. Arabica for September delivery in New York gained 3.4% day-on-day on the 23rd. This was even as the International Coffee Exchange (ICE)’s robusta deliveries in London surged by 2.91%. On average, Arabica sold at $3.29 per pound by...
Sugar rates tumble following sharp crude oil slump, 2026 surplus
Sugar futures dropped to a four-month low on June 23, 2025 by -0.37% day-on-day after crude oil rates crashed. Price pressure also emanated from Brazil’s and India’s 2025-26 surplus projections. Hence, raw sugar futures touched $0.16 a pound (-0.37% daily drop) on June 23 following a lengthy stint near $0.17. News of war ceasefire between Iran...
Free market cocoa drives illicit Ivory Coast-Guinea trade
At 2,200 CFA francs ($3.68) a kg, Ivory Coast’s farm gate cocoa is proving too low to prevent illicit free market offers across Guinea. According to Bloomberg, traders are bypassing official checkpoints in western Ivory Coast to deliver 64-kg sacks of cocoa beans into Guinea-Conakry. Although Ivorian authorities have since 2023 been battling smuggling hard, the...
Table grape season in Central California courts timely demand
Central Valley in California is locking a promising start to its 2025-26 table grape season, amid steady demand past Mexico’s supplies. By mid-June 2025, weather-affected imports from Mexico were at 8.9 million boxes out of a possible 24 million boxes. A cross-border decrement favors California’s season at a nostalgic timing when the memory of its table...









