California grape producers see flooded market

A delayed start to the Mexican and the Coachella, Calif. season has put a heavy supply of table grapes on the market.

“The Mexico season and the Coachella season were late starting and now Mexico is harvesting at a very very rapid rate,” says Ron Wikum of Reedley, Ca.-based Bravante Produce who notes that some 650,000-700,000 boxes a day are crossing from Mexico currently. “The coolers in Nogales are full and the markets are weak, also the fruit I’ve seen in the stores is mediocre at best from Mexico. Coachella is better quality and holding the price.” Wikum notes that Mexican prices are currently around $10-$12 FOB with some $14 on better product. “So it’s a weak market and with lots of supply,” he says.

Early July for San Joaquin
That said, it’s not anticipated that the heavy supply will put pressure on the San Joaquin with a little later start the supply side should be cleaned up. “I think in the next couple of weeks, the fruit will get better. There will be a lag time for consumption to catch up with crop quality improvement. “And I suspect that Mexico, particularly on red seedless, will run out of gas by the 20th of June in terms of harvest.” That puts the San Joaquin crop kicking off around July 4th," though Wikum anticipates Bravante starting around July 10th. “We’re hoping the pipeline will clean out, demand will spike and the market will improve,” he says.

Meanwhile Wikum notes that the table grape industry is currently experiencing what the apple industry started seeing some 20 years ago: notably, a spike in varietal development. “Because the varieties are improved, I see demand for greens improving,” he says. “The table grape industry is trying to figure out how to manage the additional varieties to get a premium price for them, like the apple industry has done. We’re seeing more varietal labels on bags to identify the variety as being different and value added. The California Department of Food and Agriculture now requires boxes be labelled with the assigned variety name. It’s getting strict in terms of enforcement and that’s good because the buyers will know what they’re buying. Because there is lots going on in terms of variety development.”

For more information:
Ron Wikum
Bravante Produce
Tel: +1-559 638 5075
ron@bravanteproduce.com
http://www.bravanteproduce.com/