Strawberry acreage in each of the main districts that supply fresh market fruit to the U.S. has increased. The extra acreage planted may help to contribute more fruit to the fresh market and to the processing markets that currently are short. There are reports of problems with nursery stock plantings in parts of Mexico and in Florida that will most likely limit some of this. The additional acreage in California should help to generate more volume in both fresh and processing this year, but with the current shortage of fruit in cold storage warehouses in the U.S. it is likely that pricing will remain under pressure this season. The success of the movement and high pricing of fresh market fruit during most of 2020 also may lead to greater volumes moving that way if the trend continues into the spring of 2021. Pricing is high and volumes are low on fresh market fruit currently. There is also heavy demand for any processing fruit available from these areas. This is likely to remain that way until larger volumes of fruit start to ship later in the spring.
