Under normal circumstances, table grape production in California peaks at this time of year. However, the volumes coming to market this season are significantly lower due to Hurricane Hilary. To close this gap in California, the table grape-producing countries of South America will soon step on the scene. “Peru and Brazil typically ship table grapes to the U.S. later because they don’t want to compete with California,” says Ira Greenstein of Direct Source Marketing. “This time, however, they will not wait because they see the opportunity to get a high price,” he adds.
It turned out that Peru had finished the fruit early. The north of the country (Piura) has been hit by heavy rains this season. As a result, grape production is expected to be 30 percent lower than last year. To avoid late rains in the coming season, most of the fruits were pruned to come out early. Peru’s plan is to bring these early fruits to the US market. While Brazil typically ships table grapes to the U.S. in December and January, the country already has fruit in the water en route to the U.S. East Coast. With FOB prices ranging from US$28 to US$32 for red seedless grapes and US$22 to US$26 for white seedless grapes, Peru and Brazil have seen the opportunity to enter the scene.
Increase quality
On the positive side, the quality of California table grapes will improve over the next four to six weeks. “The late varieties had very low Brix values when the hurricane hit and they did not suffer as much from the rains as the mid-season varieties.” As a result, rejections are to be expected retail trade In the coming weeks there will be a decline and the quality of the fruit is expected to be higher. Thanks to improved quality, California is sure to have fruit on the market well into November. “As buyers will rely more on late varieties, imports are not expected to take over the market,” says Greenstein. However, will the market be able to support high spot prices once fruit from three different regions becomes available?
Which fruit will the children choose? Retailer? “They are willing to pay for the best quality fruit,” says Greenstein. Depending on the quality, they may switch to imports, but as the quality of California table grapes improves, they will certainly want to support growers in the San Joaquin Valley.”
New varieties and rain
It appears that the most recently recorded varieties have not responded well to large amounts of rainfall. “They are not designed to withstand heavy rainfall.” The old varieties performed significantly better during these rainy periods. In response to last season’s rains, producers in Peru are investing millions of dollars to protect their grapes. Greenstein explains that in addition to investing in covering entire farms, some producers choose to cover each grape individually. Covering the individual grapes “is time-consuming, but ultimately more cost-effective than covering the entire vineyard with plastic.”
