Divine Flavor sees continuation of great Mexico grape season

Overview of table grape from Mexico in the U.S. market, complemented by charts from Agronometrics. Original published on April 23, 2024.

With Mexico grape officials estimating that exporters will send about 24 million cartons of table grapes to the U.S. market this spring and summer season, Carlos Bon of Divine Flavor expects to see a plethora of promotions as FOB prices should be reflective of the uptick in volume.

Bon, who is Divine Flavor’s vice president of sales, expects the FOB price on table grapes to fall to its lowest level since August of 2023 once Mexico shippers hit their peak shipments in mid-June. He said the timing of the crop, which is earlier than last year, should combine with solid volume to create the downward pressure on the price, allowing retailers to offer great deals to consumers.

“We are very happy to be starting early, which will give us a longer time to market our grapes,” he said, estimating that both the organic and conventional grape harvest should begin in the state of Sonora during the first 10 days of May. By May 15, the first Sonoran grapes should be in the stores.

Bon estimated that Mexico will send about 7 million cartons of table grapes to the U.S. market in May, compared to only 4 million during May of 2023. The bulk of the Mexico volume will come in June, which he believes will cause the retailer-friendly drop in the FOB price. June will also be the month that Divine Flavor will be shipping a plethora of the newer, high-flavor varieties to the U.S. market. Bon reports that the market price will have to be relatively low to help “keep the ball rolling throughout June.”

Mexico’s shipments should continue well into July until hot weather causes many growers to shut down their operations.

“We can’t tell you exactly how many cartons will be shipped to the United States because the big wild card this year is the domestic market,” he said.

Bon revealed that Mexico’s domestic table grape market has been red hot this spring.

In fact, Divine Flavor, and at least one other grower-shipper, is already in both the domestic market and the U.S. market with conventional table grapes from the state of Jalisco, which picked its first fruit in late March. Sonora is the traditional table grape-growing state but Divine Flavor began experimenting with grape production in Jalisco’s more challenging environment several years ago.

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Bon revealed that the experimentation was designed specifically to try to produce organic table grapes during March and April, which is a time when there are no domestic nor imported organic table grapes available for U.S. consumption. Early on Divine Flavor discovered that using organic growing practices made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to produce marketable grapes. But the company’s agronomic department has learned how to produce a top-notch conventional grape. The company’s Jalisco volume is up 90 percent this season and is expected to grow exponentially over the next few years.

Bon said the grapes currently being harvested and sold are among the best packs for quality and flavor that Divine Flavor produces all year. He explained that when starting the project in Jalisco, Grupo Alta, Divine Flavor’s parent company and the Mexico farming operation, only used the newer grape varieties, which are apparently a fan favorite of both U.S. and Mexican consumers. “The highest prices we have gotten for our Jalisco grapes this season are from Mexico not the U.S.,” he said.

If in fact Mexico’s consumers continue to pay top dollar for table grapes, growers may siphon some of their volume away from the U.S. to fill the local demand. Bon said that is especially true of the green table grape sector, which is what the domestic consumer seems to like better than the red varieties.

For its part, Divine Flavor expects to be marketing Sonora table grapes into the United States later than any of its Mexican competitors. Bon noted that one of the company’s ranches is in the latest growing region of Sonora and it has been planted with some of the latest maturing grape varieties. “We expect to be shipping until July 22,” he said.  

Divine Flavor also announced the addition of Sam Richardson to its sales team. Bon reported that Richardson grew up in Bakersfield, CA, gaining experience in the orchards and vineyards in the Southern San Joaquin Valley.  He has joined the company’s sales desk after a previous stint with another fruit shipper.

The expansion of the sales team is an acknowledgement of the company’s growth in volume. “We are expecting to have 15 percent more volume of grapes from Sonora this season, which is exciting news for us,” Bon said, noting that combined with its increasing grape volume in Jalisco gives the company a nice boost in supplies.

The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.

Access the original article with this (Link)