The early start to this year's table grape season in California has continued this year as harvesting remains ahead of last year's time-table. But with more than half of the season's crop yet to be picked, there's still much more season ahead.“We're about 12 to 14 days ahead of normal,” said George Matoian of Visalia Produce. “Movement has been good, and we're shipping fruit at a record pace. We hope that continues through the season.” Crop estimates put this year's production for the state in the neighbourhood of 117 million boxes, which would put in on par with last season's production. The difference this year has been the speed with which the season has moved along.
“It's been interesting to see weather patterns that are happening so early,” said Matoian. “We usually don't see some of the weather things that are happening until mid-September, and they're already starting to happen in August.” He noted that prices this year have been adequate, with prices ranging from $14.95 to $18.95 per box, depending on variety, size and quality.
“Demand is good,” said Matoian. “We're in peak production for green seedless grapes, and in about 10 or 14 days we'll have pretty heavy production for Scarlet Royal grapes, which are a big September variety.” A trend he noticed this year has been to move away from Thompson seedless and Crimson seedless grapes, as growers turn to newer varieties that have better yields and are less labour intensive.
“We're probably having one of the earliest starts we've ever had, and we might see an upward trend on pricing at the end of the marketing season,” said Matoian. “Because the tree fruit deal might end early, we won't be competing with tree fruit for market space, so we'll have plenty of room to push and promote grapes.”
For more information:
George Matoian
Visalia Produce Sales
+1 559 897 6652