California grapes are major summer commodity for Crown Jewels
California grapes are major summer commodity for Crown Jewels
Fresh grapes are “a big part of what Crown Jewels does in the summertime, along with melons and apples and pears and pomegranates,” said Atomic Torosian, a partner in Crown Jewels Produce LLC in Fresno, CA. “We generally do about a million and a half boxes of grapes out of California, and that number will be pretty much the same” for the 2014 season.
Crown Jewels has grower deals in several districts throughout the San Joaquin Valley, from southern Kern County up through Visalia and the Dinuba-Reedley area, and as far north as the Madera district, he said May 30. “We are looking for a good solid grape season. We are optimistic it is going to be a good year.”
The company’s grape program this summer is about the same as last year, Torosian said. “ ‘Crown Jewels’ is our label. We pack in bags and clamshells.” In bags, “the new handle bag” or pouch bag “is pretty much the norm anymore.”
Torosian expects some shippers in the San Joaquin Valley to start picking and packing as early as June 16 to June 18, but “we don’t have any” that will start that early. “I think our earliest Flames will be the 26th or 27th of June,” he said. Those will be followed by some green varieties the first week of July.
Crown Jewels was currently marketing grapes out of Mexico. “This grape deal is winding down in Mexico rapidly,” Torosian said. “Here it is May 30, and we are 70 percent harvested.” In more than 30 years of working in the Mexicana grape deal, “I have never seen it [finishing] so early,” he said. “We will be pretty much all wrapped up” with the harvest in Mexico by June 16, and by then some California growers will be “scratching a few” grapes out of the Arvin district in the southern San Joaquin Valley.
Growers are anticipating “strong prices out of the gate,” he said. “I think we will see prices much stronger than last year, conceivably $22 to $24 or higher on Flames, and even on early greens.”
Volume is expected to be down on several competing crops including melons and stone fruit, “so hopefully the grape deal will catch a lot of people’s eyes,” he said. “We will put a lot of promotions together, both on the domestic market and also on the export market.”
