Fruit & Vegetable Manufacturers NAICS 3114

Mar 23, 2025 - New High for Wages

• The producer price index for fruit and vegetable manufacturers, which measures prices producers receive for their products, rose 0.6% in December compared to a year ago after rising 6.2% in the previous December-versus-December annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Employment by fruit and vegetable manufacturers grew 2.7% year over year in January while average industry wages rose 4.5% over the same period to a new high of $23.49 per hour, per the BLS. Retail prices for processed fruits and vegetables are predicted to increase by 1.1% in 2025, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service.
• Were the Trump administration to follow through on its threat to deport millions of people living in the US illegally there would be fewer available workers to pick fruits and vegetables and prepare the food for shipment and distribution, Food Manufacturing (FM) reports. Moreover, domestic production of food could decline, leading to supply shortages, higher costs, and more imports for food manufacturers and consumers. Approximately half of US farmworkers are in the country without legal authorization, according to the USDA. FM notes that some immigrant farmworkers are skilled supervisors who make decisions about planting and harvesting, while others know how to use and maintain tractors, loaders, diggers, rakers, fertilizer sprayers, irrigation systems, and other machines crucial to farm operations. Were they suddenly removed from the US, consumers would see an increase in food costs at grocery stores and restaurants.

• Hurricane Milton tore through most of Florida’s orange groves in October, delivering a major setback for growers in the state that have been dealing with the effects of citrus greening disease, Morningstar reports. Even before the storm, Florida's orange production had plummeted by an estimated 92% in 20 years, according to the USDA, which attributes the loss to natural disasters, such as freezing and hurricanes, and disease. Global supplies have also been constrained, with Brazil, which accounts for about a third of global orange production, also suffering losses due to citrus greening disease. Futures prices for frozen concentrated orange juice traded on the ICE Futures US exchange are up about 44% over the past year, and rose 5.8% in October alone. The US all orange forecast for the 2024 to 2025 season is estimated at 2.62 million tons, down 5% from the 2023-2024 season, per the USDA.
• A new study has found widespread human exposure to thousands of chemicals used in food packaging, Food Manufacturing reports. The study, published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, identified over 3,600 chemicals used in food packaging and other food contact chemicals (FCCs) that have been found in human urine, blood, and breast milk and reveals significant gaps in biomonitoring and toxicity data. “Our research establishes a link between food contact chemicals, exposure, and human health,” said Dr. Birgit Geueke, adding, “It also highlights those chemicals that have been overlooked in biomonitoring studies so far.” The researchers were surprised by the high number of FCCs, for which some evidence of human exposure exists, and said their study shows there needs to be more research about the toxicity of and exposure to many chemicals and regulations around their use in food packaging.