Market Update for Table Grapes

Week of April 14 – April 20

Fresh shipments of South American table grapes exported to the U.S. continue to decline, with week 14 numbers dropping below 2.5 million total boxes. This trend continues to impact the current spot market as importers have already begun reacting to the drop in volumes. For some, coolers are still full of aging lots, so expect a split market between quality fresh arrivals and weaker older fruit. Retailers are ready to pay more for the best fruit remaining, but will overall fruit quality support the price increase? Looking ahead to Mexico, reports from Sonora have indicated a very inconsistent set of traditional varieties, like Flames and Sugraone. Bud break this year lasted close to 40 days, creating the issues and setting us up for lower volumes of early grapes. This will certainly put more pressure on the spot market in May, with meaningful volumes now not expected until the end of May. Retailers that prefer proprietary varieties will have to wait until the middle of June, with promotable volumes of Sweet Globes, Sweet Celebrations and Jack Salutes not expected to be available for another 8 – 10 weeks. This all points to significantly higher spot market pricing for the foreseeable future.

Red Seedless

Red seedless spot market prices jumped just a bit last week as importers realized the reality that total volumes expected to ship from Chile will be less than expected. Just over 1 million boxes shipped week 14, but that’s a far cry from what the industry will need to stretch out the season through the end of May. Sonora, Mexico is clearly on track to have fewer Flame seedless, as well as a later start date, so that will put added pressure on the red seedless market in May. Chile did experience a rain event that could have an impact on quality. Since that fruit will be arriving after the marketing order, importers could do some repacking if fruit fails to meet US#1. We are still expected to receive some late season red grapes from Chile well into May, so growers are hoping to take advantage of Mexico’s late start. Currently, the spot market ranges from $22.00 to as high as $26.00 for Large Crimsons and $24.00 to $28.00 for XLG Sweet Celebrations and Allison. Marketers will likely start testing the market once they see the quality of their next few weeks of arrivals and we could see the spot market top $30.00 once we get to May.

Green Seedless

There is a wide range of pricing to go along with the wide range of availability in the market. Many importers are navigating through aging inventories of green seedless with pack dates that go back to February. Although that fruit may still be marketable, most retailers are demanding fresher arrivals. The spot market for the best quality fruit spiked last week, as imports of fresh green seedless continue to decline. Chile exported less than 800K total green seedless week 14, so we will see the very typical jump in both programmed and spot FOBs through the balance of the month. Peru shipped just over 100K boxes, almost all late season Autumn Crisp. Currently, the market for good quality fresh fruit ranges from $28.00 to $32.00 for XLG and $32.00 to $34.00 for Jumbo. Premium Peruvian Autumn Crisp are fetching $38.00 to as high as $46.00, with the mostly market at $42.00 for triple jumbo. It’s possible to see the spot market go even higher for the best conditioned fruit, until Mexico can bring some relief in mid to late May.