March/April 2023 - 6

POST-COVID PROCESSING FACILITY
IN PURSUIT OF
NORMALCY
By Melinda Waldrop
Managing Editor
THREE YEARS AFTER the beginning of
the COVID-19 pandemic, production levels
are returning to something resembling
normal, though supply chain and labor
issues persist while demand fluctuates.
Those are the findings of a Produce
Processing survey, and the reality an
international organization is seeing for
its 3,000 members.
" It is not back to normal, " said Ed
Treacy, vice president of supply chain
and sustainability for the International
Fresh Produce Association. " Normal
to me is pre-2019 and before. It is less
unpredictable than it used to be.
" Part of it is people are getting used to
the unpredictability. It was a nightmare
in the beginning of 2020. "
Freight rates were down 20% during
the third week of February compared to
the same time in 2022, and hiring was
on the upswing, Treacy said. But Asian
ports are still vulnerable to periodic
quarantines and shutdowns, stretching
lead times for customers from weeks to
months, and production costs - from
labor to fertilizer - remain high, and
are also being driven by inflation.
" Everything costs more, " Treacy said.
" Labor is up. Transport is still up, even
though it's down 20%.
" What hurts them (producers) the most
is fertilizer, " a result amplified by the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, where much
of the world's fertilizer - including
6 MARCH/APR I L 2 023
 Source: International Fresh Produce Association

March/April 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March/April 2023

March/April 2023 - 1
March/April 2023 - 2
March/April 2023 - 3
March/April 2023 - 4
March/April 2023 - 5
March/April 2023 - 6
March/April 2023 - 7
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