Cyan Market Intel

Week of September 29, 2026 · USDA NASS Cold Storage stocks as of August 31, 2026 (released September 25)

Frozen: Cold Storage lands; Northwest still competing for trucks

Week of October 6, 2026 update: No new USDA Cold Storage data this week, so there is no clean frozen read. The next NASS Cold Storage report is due October 23, 2026. The read below is from the week of September 29 and stays up until then.

Cold Storage finally printed. Keep the read honest.

USDA’s August 31 stocks: frozen poultry down 1% from July and down 4% from a year ago; chicken down 5% year over year; frozen fruit down 4% year over year; frozen vegetables up 31% month over month and up 2% year over year; red meat up 8% year over year. Total frozen potatoes about flat on the month and about 4% above last August. Pacific french fries about 12% above last August and about 8% above July.

That is inventory, not a weekly frozen truck board. The operational story next to it is still Washington apple season pulling reefers into the same Northwest pool.

National diesel cooled 14.7 cents to $6.382. Useful on long frozen hauls. Not a reason to assume Central Washington capacity got easier.

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F3 · Pacific Northwest (potato / frozen / seafood) → Midwest & East

FirmingFrozen still sharing trucks with apples.

• Week over week: Neighboring Yakima/Wenatchee produce freight remains USDA Shortage (Red); SONAR Seattle reefer rejections above 20% in September.
• Year over year: Pacific french fry stocks about 12% above August 31, 2025; total U.S. frozen potatoes about 4% above. Higher stocks are inventory, not free trucks.
• Breadth: A Northwest-wide reefer pull from tree fruit, not a frozen demand spike.

Apple harvest is packing in Washington. Frozen shippers in the Columbia Basin and Portland are fishing in the same carrier pool. When produce trucks get scarce up there, frozen feels it too.

F1 / F2 · Midwest frozen plants → Northeast, Southeast & Florida

FlatInventory mixed; fuel cooled.

• Week over week: Midwest diesel down 15.4 cents to $6.526 (EIA).
• Year over year: Frozen vegetables +2% and red meat +8% in freezers vs August 2025 (NASS); frozen poultry −4%. Midwest diesel about 75% above last year.

More frozen vegetables in the warehouse does not by itself mean more outbound trucks this week. Hold steady and reset fuel.

F4 · California frozen / cold storage → West + Intermountain

FlatFuel is still expensive.

• Week over week: California diesel $8.181 (−6.5 cents).
• Year over year: National frozen fruit −4% (NASS).

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What this means for shippers this week

• Pacific Northwest frozen: line up another origin or book early. Apple season and Seattle reefer rejections are stretching Central Washington capacity. If you’re shipping out of the Columbia Basin or Portland, commit trucks now.
• Midwest frozen: hold steady, reset fuel. Cold Storage shows more frozen vegetables and red meat year over year. Treat that as inventory context, not a surge order. Rebuild the fuel surcharge off the September 28 EIA print.
• Protect dwell. Frozen that sits on a warm dock is a salvage call. Book carriers that plan for dwell at both ends and hold temperature the whole way.

Want to know where your frozen lanes sit? Run them through our lane check.

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Sources

1. USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Cold Storage, released September 25, 2026 (stocks as of August 31, 2026). https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/publication/cold-storage
2. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Specialty Crops National Truck Rate Report, dated September 23, 2026 (rates for Tuesday, September 22, 2026). https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/fvwtrk.pdf
3. FreightWaves SONAR, Outlook Daily Watch, September 29, 2026. https://sonar.freightwaves.com/
4. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update, released September 29, 2026 (week of 09/28/26). https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/