Mexican grape volume to be plentiful this June

While cool weather in mid-May slowed production of Mexican grapes, the markets were off to a good start as June approached. The deal should remain strong before beginning to decline in volume in mid-June and wrapping up by July 1.

Miguel (Miky) Suarez, sales manager and managing partner of MAS Melons & Grapes LLC in Rio Rico, AZ, said the Saturday before Memorial Day was the first time in many years that Nogales warehouses were virtually void of Mexican grapes.

“The town was practically clean of all varieties of grapes,” he said. “It is unusual for the inventory for the whole town to be clean. It’s a very good thing that volume has picked up.”

“It’s been a challenging season,” said Jerry Havel, director of sales and marketing for Fresh Farms LLC in Rio Rico, AZ. “The fruit should start coming now. Harvest was delayed by cool weather in the middle of May. We will have better supplies now. Green and black varieties will have a lot of volume from Mexico in the next couple of weeks.”

Havel added that May “was a good month, with good prices. But there was not enough volume. There will be good volume of all colors and all varieties through June. We will be done July 1 or so.”

Havel said, “Prices have been good. Demand has been excellent. Now in June we should have plenty of supplies. We will have promotable opportunities – especially from Fresh Farms on green grapes.”

Suarez said that there was “good business” to be had on Memorial Day.

“The peak is right now,” Suarez said May 30. “This is the biggest week of the season for us. The next 10 days will be our biggest volume. It will see the end of Flames in Hermosillo and we will finish Perlettes.”

Volume in Caborca was building, bringing big volumes of greens and reds.

“We are starting Sugraones,” said Suarez. “This is the biggest week for Flames.”

Suarez credits distributors of Mexican grapes for planning good June retail promotions, which will be critical for a smooth movement of the large Mexican grape crop.

He noted that Mexican grape volume would begin to wind down a little toward the middle of June.