Market Update for Table Grapes

Week of February 10 – February 16

Cold storages on both coasts are almost at capacity, as a steady stream of arrivals from Peru and Chile enter the U.S. market. Although 1 million fewer boxes left week 5 compared to week 4, marketers have their hands full with more than 12 million boxes received over the past three weeks and 5.7 million boxes expected to arrive next week. Retailers are finally promoting, so that should help stabilize a very unstable situation, but only the best quality fruit will find homes on retail shelves. With coolers filled with aging inventory, the wholesale markets are already flooded with distressed fruit making it almost impossible to maintain a secondary market for weaker lots. We should expect to see a true split market for the foreseeable future until all the old and poor-quality fruit is flushed from the market. Retail rejections could be on the rise, as marketers will be challenged to balance making clean arrivals and maintaining a first-in, first-out shipping strategy.

Red Seedless

Red seedless movement at retail continues to underperform, compared to green seedless and this has put more pressure on the spot market. Red seedless promotions set for Valentine’s Day could help stabilize the situation, but for now we will continue to see a wide range of offerings from importer to importer. Quality and condition will determine if growers can get through the next 4 to 6 weeks, as only the best fruit will maintain profitable results. Currently, the best Peruvian Sweet Celebrations range from $26.00 to $28.00, but look for FOBs to adjust lower over the next 7 days. Ads have been set at $24.00 and lower depending on variety through the balance of the month, so importers are hoping to see movement improve. Chilean volumes are more compressed, so expect reasonable volumes of red grapes through the first two weeks in March. There will be deals on weaker, older lots as well as undersized Chilean fruit, but most of this fruit will not make it to most retail shelves and will be liquidated through the wholesale terminal markets.

Green Seedless

Very rarely do we see such a wide range on green seedless spot market pricing, with clean fruit trading from as low as $16.00 and premium Autumn Crisp selling for as high as $36.00 FOB. With more than 13 million boxes of Autumn Crisp projected to be exported from Peru, the U.S. market has finally received the volumes needed to support the demand building from retailers who want this premium variety. If ever there was validation that Autumn Crisp has separated itself from the competition, our current market conditions are proof of that. Currently, the best jumbo Sweet Globes and other green varieties are trading from $24.00 to $26.00, while the very best and biggest Autumn Crisp are selling for $10.00 more a box. This poses a real challenge to those growers who don’t farm this variety, as more volumes are expected in the future. Fresh arrivals of good conditioned Chilean Thompsons and Superiors could trade between $20.00 and $22.00 FOB and there will be even cheaper quotes available in the market, but buyers should be aware that this fruit most likely won’t make it through their QA process.