Garlic supply is tight, and prices are high as key growing regions are getting ready to ship new crop product. "I buy Chinese garlic and we stopped shipping fresh garlic for quite a few weeks now because of the duty on product coming into the U.S. from China," says Clara Shih of Best Buy Produce International. "We just can't make it really so there's not much coming in–just a little bit."
On top of that, new crop garlic is also being harvested in China, and shippers are hesitant to ship product so early into the season. "A lot of mainstream markets also don't want Chinese garlic," says Shih.
The other key garlic shipping country, Spain, has also just harvested, but won't be shipping for a few weeks yet. "It's still too wet, so we're waiting a couple of weeks," says Shih. "They do have a big crop. This is after three bad years in a row–in the first year, for example, they had massive rain in the harvest season."
Mexican garlic shipping
So, where is garlic coming from right now? Mexican production is underway for fresh garlic, and the country has a big crop. However, with such short supply in the marketplace, pricing is very high–$4-$5/kilo, exacerbated by the fact that the U.S. prefers to ship larger sizes. "It's early in the crop too so the yields are not very good. Even so, the small sizes are still expensive," says Shih.
Also on imports, Best Buy Produce is shipping some garlic from Turkey right now as it does every year. Shih says the country's 10 percent on import duties from Turkey feels more manageable compared to the duty rates on product from China.
Domestically, California's crop is also not ready yet and is still about a week away from shipping.
So with the demand strong for the lower supply of garlic, it's a difficult time in garlic shipping. "Everything is short, and with these tariffs, at these elevated rates, it's difficult to afford," says Shih.
For more information:
Clara Shih
Best Buy Produce
Tel: +1 (323) 262-8888
www.bestbuyproduce.com