“We have good supplies of grapes. As a company and an industry, it appears that most cold storages according to the data that we track, are fairly full of fruit and harvest is still moving right along. There’s good availability of table grapes right now,” says Jim Beagle of Shafter, Ca.-based Grapery.
Beagle notes that Grapery will likely supply through Christmas, though he notes the industry is on track to keep supplies going until a regular season finish which is mid-January.
Peru incoming
Pressure also currently feels light from competing markets, says Beagle. “It doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of competition right now for California grapes. We’re expecting a little bit of fruit to arrive from Peru at any time—we typically start to see a little bit from Peru in November,” he says. “But there have been reports that their season is late and short with some rain issues that shortened the early part of their crop.”
Pricing perked up
Meanwhile demand also looks strong for now which puts pricing higher than last year. “We’re seeing good pricing,” says Beagle. “Pricing for grapes is very dependent on quality so there always seems to be a big range out there but there’s strong pricing for good quality fruit.”
Looking ahead, Beagle anticipates prices for now to stay stable. “And I expect to see continued good movement on good quality grapes,” he adds.
For more information:
Jim Beagle
Grapery
Tel: +1-661-387-9300
jbeagle@grapery.biz
www.grapery.biz