12/05/2026
What's up with the peppers?! 🌶
Did you know you can write to Andy, our Produce Category Manager, with any produce questions you might have? Someone recently emailed to ask: “What’s up with the pepper prices? Is this pretty typical at the end of the season? I don’t remember ever seeing them this high.”
Andy's reply:
Yep—in 30+ years in the industry, I don’t think pepper prices have ever been this high! Typically, prices start climbing when the Mexico season winds down and production shifts to California, where land, labor, and production costs are higher. Usually, we only see a month or two of elevated prices before local pepper season starts in August. Historically, though, prices have never reached these levels.
This year, it’s really been a combination of factors:
1. Ongoing geopolitical uncertainty has led some Mexican growers to scale back production
2. Dramatic weather shifts created difficult growing conditions
3. Several large growers experienced crop failure due to fungal disease and insect pressure
All of this has resulted in fewer peppers coming out of Mexico at a time when demand is typically high. Low supply + high demand = high prices.
Unfortunately, tomatoes are seeing similar trends, too. We may see a little relief when California product hits the market later in June, but significant improvement likely won’t come until local season starts in August.
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