Grapes from California till mid-February available for export markets
“Several target export markets had large volumes of California grapes available into the New Year,” said Susan Day, vice president of international marketing for the California Table Grape Commission. “Trade sources indicate that some importers plan to hold California grapes in cold storage until the Chinese New Year in mid-February.”
In Central America, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam retailer promotions for Christmas and New Year’s included special holiday-themed point-of-purchase materials, sampling and special secondary grape displays alongside other holiday fruit. As it’s the custom to eat 12 grapes at midnight on New Year’s, unique holiday materials for retail promotions in Mexico and Central America included a message of “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and 12 wishes with Grapes from California.”
According to USDA, excluding Canada, California grape exports from May through November totaled 30.3 million 19-pound boxes, the second largest volume ever exported through November. This was three percent less than last season, which saw a record total crop and export volume.
The top five export markets through November were, in order, China/Hong Kong at 42,976 metric tons (MT), Mexico at 36,071 MT, the Philippines at 20,521 MT, Australia at 17,853 MT and Indonesia at 16,911 MT.
While export volumes to most of the export markets declined very slightly versus the previous record crop year, export volumes to the United Kingdom were 45 percent higher than the prior year, exports to Indonesia increased 38 percent and exports to South Korea increased 32 percent.
The commission implemented a comprehensive promotional program in 25 export markets in the 2014-15 season. Retailers are targeted to motivate their handling of California grapes at the start of the season (May through January) each year and to move volume throughout the season in chain-wide promotions. Examples of promotions are in-store samplings, special displays, display contests, point-of-purchase materials, consumer advertising and recipe leaflets.
As the 2014-15 season for California grapes comes to a close, the California Table Grape Commission will launch its new booth at Fruit Logistica in Berlin the first week of February meeting with retailers and buyers about opportunities with Grapes from California in the coming 2015-16 season.