After short Mexican grape crop last year, similar volume to 2005 expected
After short Mexican grape crop last year, similar volume to 2005 expected
While no official estimates on the 2007 grape crop in Sonora, Mexico, had yet been released, several of the distributors in Nogales, AZ that The Produce News interviewed, as well as a spokesperson for the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, expect the volume of fresh table grapes exported to the United States from Mexico in 2007 to be similar to two years ago.
Most marketers expected to have grapes available beginning about the second week of May, although some growers could start harvesting a few days earlier. Perlettes will be the earliest variety, followed by Flames.
According to statistics cited by Allison Moore, communications director for the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, the total amount of grapes crossing from Mexico into Nogales, AZ, in 2005 was about 17.6 million boxes. Another roughly 400,000 boxes crossed into California at Calexico, making a total of about 18 million boxes for the year, a record figure.
By contrast, the 2006 crop was down dramatically, with only about 11.2 million boxes crossing into the United States through the two ports combined.
"They haven't released the official numbers on what we are going to have yet," Ms. Moore said in late March. "But it has really been a great year so far" for growing grapes in Mexico "in terms of weather and in terms of pollination," so everything looks "really good," she said.
The overall acreage is similar to what it was in 2005, "with some of the older maybe more inefficient vineyards being ripped out" and some of the newer ones planted in recent years coming into production.
Ms. Moore had been in the growing areas in Sonora in mid-March and said that "things look to be on track" to produce a crop similar to two years ago. But there was still another month "before we are actually there," she said. "So something can always happen between now and then."
Last year's short crop is believed to have been at least partly a consequence of low winter chill hours. This year, "they have had really good chilling hours," Ms. Moore said. More recently, the weather has been quite warm, and that "really moved things forward," she added. "Plus they had really good pollination early on, so the growers were able to do some aggressive [bunch thinning] to really be a lot more selective in the bunches that they were leaving on the vines."
Because of that, "quality looks really good," she said. "If we have the weather we need to have for the next month, ... it will mean more uniform bunch sizes and better bunches."
John Pandol of Pandol Bros. Inc. in Delano, CA, who is also chairman of the FPAA grape committee, concurred that the 2005 season is a good "model" for what is being seen so far with the 2007 crop. "We are heading for a big crop," he said.
Volume and quality both look "really good" in contrast to last year, which "was tough," said Bill Sykes of The Sykes Co. in Nogales. His guess for the volume of Mexican grape exports to the United States this year was between 16 million and 18 million boxes. "Everything looks terrific," he said. "I look for a normal year" with good production and good size, said Jerry Wagner of Farmer's Best in Nogales.
Last year was "a little strange," said Atomic Torosian of Crown Jewels Marketing & Distribution in Fresno, CA. "I think overall as an industry we brought ... a little over 11 million boxes into the [United] States." This year he expects "an amount similar to 2005."
He expected to see a "fairly smooth transition" from the Chilean grape deal to the Mexican deal but with some overlap of Chilean Crimsons with Mexican Flames.
"We are looking to have a large volume of excellent quality," said Jerry Havel of Fresh Farms Inc. in Nogales. Quality so far looks "outstanding," he said. "Last year was disappointing" because of weather conditions and "the way the crop came off," said Julian Lipschitz of Fruit Patch Inc. in Delano, CA, a partner in the Grape Connection.
But this year he expects to see "a pretty good crop [of] as much as 17 [million] to 18 million boxes, barring some unforeseen warm weather or rain problems." There appears to be "a lot of bunches to choose from," he said. He expected volume to peak just before Memorial Day.
"It is going to be a large crop but not anything that ... won't be manageable for the industry," providing that "the quality is right," said John Forry of D.J. Forry Co. in Reedley, CA, also a partner in the Grape Connection. He, too, put the estimate at 17-18 million cartons, similar to 2005, but he noted that in 2005 "we had issues" with rains that affected quality.
"We have had ample chill hours," Mr. Forry said. As to the bud break, "we've never seen it as even as we've seen it this year."
This year's bud break was "much better than it was last year," said Gary Blank of Spectrum Produce Distributing in Tucson, AZ. "We didn't have the dormancy problem that we had last year [when] the fruit never really got the chill hours that it needed."
This year, "right now everything is looking really good," he said. "There will be numerous bunches on each vine that [growers] will be able to pick and choose from" during bunch thinning.
(For more on the Mexican grape deal, see the April 16 issue of The Produce News.)
Most marketers expected to have grapes available beginning about the second week of May, although some growers could start harvesting a few days earlier. Perlettes will be the earliest variety, followed by Flames.
According to statistics cited by Allison Moore, communications director for the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, the total amount of grapes crossing from Mexico into Nogales, AZ, in 2005 was about 17.6 million boxes. Another roughly 400,000 boxes crossed into California at Calexico, making a total of about 18 million boxes for the year, a record figure.
By contrast, the 2006 crop was down dramatically, with only about 11.2 million boxes crossing into the United States through the two ports combined.
"They haven't released the official numbers on what we are going to have yet," Ms. Moore said in late March. "But it has really been a great year so far" for growing grapes in Mexico "in terms of weather and in terms of pollination," so everything looks "really good," she said.
The overall acreage is similar to what it was in 2005, "with some of the older maybe more inefficient vineyards being ripped out" and some of the newer ones planted in recent years coming into production.
Ms. Moore had been in the growing areas in Sonora in mid-March and said that "things look to be on track" to produce a crop similar to two years ago. But there was still another month "before we are actually there," she said. "So something can always happen between now and then."
Last year's short crop is believed to have been at least partly a consequence of low winter chill hours. This year, "they have had really good chilling hours," Ms. Moore said. More recently, the weather has been quite warm, and that "really moved things forward," she added. "Plus they had really good pollination early on, so the growers were able to do some aggressive [bunch thinning] to really be a lot more selective in the bunches that they were leaving on the vines."
Because of that, "quality looks really good," she said. "If we have the weather we need to have for the next month, ... it will mean more uniform bunch sizes and better bunches."
John Pandol of Pandol Bros. Inc. in Delano, CA, who is also chairman of the FPAA grape committee, concurred that the 2005 season is a good "model" for what is being seen so far with the 2007 crop. "We are heading for a big crop," he said.
Volume and quality both look "really good" in contrast to last year, which "was tough," said Bill Sykes of The Sykes Co. in Nogales. His guess for the volume of Mexican grape exports to the United States this year was between 16 million and 18 million boxes. "Everything looks terrific," he said. "I look for a normal year" with good production and good size, said Jerry Wagner of Farmer's Best in Nogales.
Last year was "a little strange," said Atomic Torosian of Crown Jewels Marketing & Distribution in Fresno, CA. "I think overall as an industry we brought ... a little over 11 million boxes into the [United] States." This year he expects "an amount similar to 2005."
He expected to see a "fairly smooth transition" from the Chilean grape deal to the Mexican deal but with some overlap of Chilean Crimsons with Mexican Flames.
"We are looking to have a large volume of excellent quality," said Jerry Havel of Fresh Farms Inc. in Nogales. Quality so far looks "outstanding," he said. "Last year was disappointing" because of weather conditions and "the way the crop came off," said Julian Lipschitz of Fruit Patch Inc. in Delano, CA, a partner in the Grape Connection.
But this year he expects to see "a pretty good crop [of] as much as 17 [million] to 18 million boxes, barring some unforeseen warm weather or rain problems." There appears to be "a lot of bunches to choose from," he said. He expected volume to peak just before Memorial Day.
"It is going to be a large crop but not anything that ... won't be manageable for the industry," providing that "the quality is right," said John Forry of D.J. Forry Co. in Reedley, CA, also a partner in the Grape Connection. He, too, put the estimate at 17-18 million cartons, similar to 2005, but he noted that in 2005 "we had issues" with rains that affected quality.
"We have had ample chill hours," Mr. Forry said. As to the bud break, "we've never seen it as even as we've seen it this year."
This year's bud break was "much better than it was last year," said Gary Blank of Spectrum Produce Distributing in Tucson, AZ. "We didn't have the dormancy problem that we had last year [when] the fruit never really got the chill hours that it needed."
This year, "right now everything is looking really good," he said. "There will be numerous bunches on each vine that [growers] will be able to pick and choose from" during bunch thinning.
(For more on the Mexican grape deal, see the April 16 issue of The Produce News.)
