The California stone fruit season has just about finished for the year. Growers are now picking and packing remaining fruit, bringing the harvest season to a close by the end of next week. Out of all the varieties, there will likely be some late season plums available for another five or six weeks, after which the offshore season begins with fruit from Chile.
"We will be finishing packing next week," said Jeff Simonian of Simonian Fruit Company. "We still have some yellow peaches as well as plums left. As a state, there are typically some growers that will have late season plums as late as November."
Market fair during season
The stone fruit market was relatively flat, with no particular highs or lows through the season. Growers were mainly pleased with the quality of fruit offered. After a slow start to the season, volume improved throughout the summer, resulting in good supplies across most of the stone fruit varieties.
"Autumn Flame" yellow peaches
"There were some periods of slower movement and lower prices, but overall the season was fair," Simonian observed. "At the beginning there was a lighter crop but once summer and the later season varieties came, volume was good. The highlight for us was that quality was consistently excellent throughout the season."
Simonian noted that probably their best sellers this year were the early season plum varieties, with quality contributing to the success. "We did pretty well on early season plums," he said. "Supplies were good and quality was excellent."
Now that the grape season is in full swing, shelf space for stone fruit is now dwindling. There is still some stone fruit available, with the later season fruit not showing any signs of tiring. "When grapes come in, there is a lot of competition for shelf space because there are so many new crop grape varieties available," Simonian added. "We're looking to finish strongly as quality is still very good."
"Fortune" plums
Attention turning to pomegranates
Now that summer and the stone fruit season is largely over, Simonian Fruit Company is turning its attention to the pomegranate season. Starting this week, the California season is a little late this year and will last for several months until close to the end of the year.
"Our first pomegranate varieties are being harvested this week," Simonian shared. "Many crops are starting later this year and pomegranates are no exception. We have been waiting for the fruit to color up more so it has that deep red tone that consumers desire."
Much of the pomegranate crop is exported but Simonian doesn't foresee any problems with the tariff situation. "About 40 percent of our crop is exported, but most of the countries we ship to do not have any tariffs."
For more information:
Jeff Simonian
Simonian Fruit Company
Tel: +1 (559) 834-5307
jeff@simonianfruit.com
www.simonianfruit.com