Chile's grape season is coming to an end. In week 17, less than 100,000 boxes were exported, which concluded the export season to the USA. This doesn't mean grapes from Chile are no longer available on U.S. store shelves. "There is still reasonable inventory of Chilean grapes in East Coast cold storages," says Ira Greenstein with Direct Source Marketing. As a result of a significant rain event about a month ago, importers overreacted by increasing the price of both red and green grapes. "This caused movement to slow down and allowed inventories to build up."
With Mexico being on the heels of Chile, importers are now feeling a sense of urgency to move grapes from Chile that are a mixed bag of quality. Due to the rain, the quality and condition of the remaining fruit is inconsistent. In an effort to move the Chilean fruit as soon as possible, importers are dropping prices on the spot market, and the good fruit is trading between $34.00 and $36.00 FOB on green grapes and $24.00 to $26.00 on reds.
Direct Source Marketing will be receiving a few shipments of red grapes from Chile as well as the last Autumncrisp® grapes from Peru this week. "These shipments conclude the southern hemisphere import season for us," shared Greenstein. "It has been an incredibly successful season. The quality of the fruit and the retail support were both exceptional and in combination with strong prices, we look back on a phenomenal season."
© Direct Source Marketing
Mexico sees early start
Now it's time to shift gears and focus on Mexico as the country's grape harvest is trending three weeks early. Starting this week, there will be plenty of availability on green grapes from Sonora and red grapes will start crossing the border next week. At the same time, Coachella in California has started packing Flame Seedless and Ruby Rush®. "For a limited time, we will see an overlap of good quality Mexican green grapes and imported Chilean Autumncrisp." This gives retailers options and it is an opportunity for them to buy the highest quality fruit. By mid-May, Mexico and Coachella will be able to support the full demand of the market, urging importers to clear their inventories of Chilean grapes in the next ten days.
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Ruby Rush grapes.
Early start for California
What is the outlook for the Mexican season? "I expect there will be lots of pressure on Mexico to move about 19 million boxes of fruit in a short amount of time," said Greenstein. While the country grows proprietary varieties like Sweet Globe and Sweet Celebration, it doesn't have the best reputation in terms of quality. Because of this, retailers tend to move to California as soon as that season starts. "With California anticipated to start about two to three weeks early, picking will start the third week of June." As soon as California's Central Valley starts up, retailers will want to make the jump, giving Mexico about eight to ten weeks to move their entire crop.
For more information:
Ira Greenstein
Direct Source Marketing
Tel: +1 (914) 241-4434
[email protected]
www.directsourcemktg.com
