As soon as it became clear that California's table grape season would finish early, Peru felt immense pressure to get their harvest going. Vanguard Group International started shipping table grapes out of their northern growing region in October, achieving higher harvest volume year-over-year in the early weeks of the season. "Supplies from Piura and the surrounding regions in the north allowed us to begin delivery on our major retail contracts in early December," says Ethan Williams, President of Vanguard International and Vanguard Direct. "This has enabled us to provide our customers with a smooth transition from domestic to import product."
Ica saw a slow start
In the southern Ica region, however, harvest came on slowly. "There has been a regional split in terms of timing this season," commented Williams. Due to cooler temperatures in the south, the harvest around Ica has come on slowly. Although colder weather delayed fruit maturity, growing conditions have otherwise been very favorable. Vanguard's owned production from the Ica region began harvesting on November 13th with the Ivory™ green seedless, followed by Sweet Celebration™ red seedless two weeks later. "Both varieties are presenting the consistent size and quality our labels have become known for in global markets," remarked Williams. Ica is now ramping up quickly with peak harvest weeks expected to hit mid-December through the end of January.
In the northern part of Peru, the situation turned around. While it was off to a swift start in October, significant rains struck the region in early November. This has resulted in problems with both quality and quantity.
© Vanguard International
Green grapes in Vanguard Fresh label.
Resurgence in demand for red grapes
Challenges in Peru, along with Chinese New Year being later (Feb. 17) and counter-seasonal growing regions finishing early, are creating an extremely high demand for table grapes around the world. Customer interest far exceeds current supply availability, but this situation should start to balance out in mid to late January when both Chile and South Africa will increase their grape exports. "Currently, we are seeing an increased demand across all markets for the newer varieties, especially Autumncrisp®." In addition, a resurgence in demand for red varieties is being witnessed. This is not a surprise given the focus globally in the past 6-8 years to invest in planting green varieties.
Meeting commitments
Despite a demand-exceeds-supply situation, the collaboration between Vanguard's North and South America teams allows the company to proactively secure the fruit necessary to fulfill its commitments. "While there is a shortage in the industry driving prices to irrational levels, we protect our supplies to ensure our program commitments are covered," Williams mentioned. Between Peru and Chile, Vanguard expects to ship approximately six million 8.2kg equivalent cartons. Roughly 50 percent of that volume will land in the U.S., with the other 50 percent being distributed across Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
Vanguard's main grape supplies consist of Autumncrisp®, Ivory™, and Sweet Celebration™. In addition, the company will see the first harvest of Ruby Rush® red seedless in Peru this year. "The crop looks very promising and will complement our Ivory™, allowing us to offer both green and red grapes during the early part of the season." In addition, Epic Crisp® grapes will be planted this coming year, a variety both Vanguard and its customers are very excited about due to the quality it has shown from other origins.
© Vanguard International
Ivory™ grapes in Vanguard's Pampa Fresh label.
Total shipments from Peru and Chile
As an industry, northern and southern Peru are anticipated to ship between 80 and 85 million cartons while the Chilean season is expected to come in at approximately 63 million cartons of table grapes.
The varieties complement each other on the basis of harvest timing – both varieties will be early. We have had Ivory for years and out reds have generally started 4-5 weeks later. We will now have a red, the Ruby Rush, which will start at the same time as the Ivory and will allow us to begin delivering our own production, both greens and reds simultaneously, for our retail contracts.
© Vanguard International
For more information:
Ethan Williams
Vanguard Group International
[email protected]
www.vanguardfresh.com
