Grapes in Charts: Volumes through March running higher than last year

For this “In Charts”, we will outline how the U.S. grape market has been behaving recently, looking at pricing, volumes, origin markets and differing varieties of table grapes.

As shown in the chart below, table grape prices in North American markets have decreased in the first few months of 2020. Data further down will better explain this shift and what could happen for prices short-term as the season advances.

Meanwhile, grape volumes during the first few months of 2020 are higher than those recorded at the same time last year.

South Africa, Peru and Chile all reported higher volumes of exports sent to the U.S. for this period in the beginnings of 2020 in comparison to 2019.

Time will tell in the upcoming weeks when it will be easier to understand the impact of Covid-19 on the North American market, but exports out of Chile have undoubtedly been impacted.

Looking forward, we will also have to monitor what happens with Mexican table grapes as the country anticipates 20% less volume exported and that their fruit will arrive to California earlier than usual – according to all foreseeable indications. This may potentially cause prices to shift in the near future.

The following graph demonstrates the different dates that table grapes have arrived to the U.S. market. This show when some markets begin sending their fruit and others enter the market.

Written by: Cristian Crespo
Original published in FreshFruitPortal.com on April 07, 2020 (Link)