Supplies of raspberries into the United States from Mexico are steady and quality is good despite the cooler weather that has affected some areas of the growing regions. Raspberry growers with volume coming in from Mexico reported that the cooler weather has slowed production slightly, however this has been balanced with good quality berries.
"We are harvesting raspberries all throughout central Mexico, in the estates of Jalisco, Michoacán and Guanajuato," said Rodrigo Aceves of California Giant Berry Farms. "Quality has been excellent, the berries are very firm and tend to get sweeter with colder weather. Thankfully, we have not had any severe effects, although cooler days slow the development of the crop and fruit takes longer to get to full color."
Market favorable, may rise
The market for raspberries is good with steady demand and prices close to the long-term average. At this time of year, almost all raspberry supplies in the US are coming from Mexico. Therefore, producers are expecting a slight rise in prices as availability narrows.
"The market has been favorable for our growers and is similar to previous years," Aceves observed. "With California finishing their season, prices tend to go up and growers get better returns for their crop."
Raspberry program expansion progressing well
Last year, California Giant launched an expansion of their Mexican raspberry program. As planned, the season began a month earlier than usual for the company and is expected to extend until summer. "We grow the Adelita variety, which has a first flow of fruit coming from its mother plants, followed by a second flow from the secondary canes," Aceves shared. "Thus, with different planting dates, we have fields in different stages but overall we will have fruit until June 2019."
He added that the program has been well received so far and said the company is in a good position to potentially expand the program further in the future. "The expanded raspberry program has been very successful so far. Fruit arrivals have been pretty good with the quality we are sending. Customers and growers are happy with the product, so there are great opportunities for expansion in the coming years."
For more information:
Cindy Jewell
California Giant Berry Farms
Ph: +1 (831) 728-1773
cjewell@calgiant.com
www.calgiant.com