“For Mexico’s 2024 season our early red and white grapes are about 10 days earlier”

Overview of grapes from Mexico in the U.S. market, complemented by charts from Agronometrics. Original published on May 7, 2024.

Mexico’s 2024 table grape harvest season could start up to two weeks earlier than last year. César Ortiz, CEO of Agrofesa, based in the North-West of Mexico: “As far as table grapes, we expect a good season volume wise and market wise. In Agrofesa’s case, our early red varieties are almost two weeks ahead compared to last year, while early whites are about 10 days earlier. Our mid-late season varieties are about 10 days ahead. All our grape varieties will finish with excellent size and quality.”

The drier weather in Mexico is ideal for table grape maturing as the harvest season nears. Ortiz says this season they will introduce two new grape varieties to their offering. Agrofesa exports mainly to the US market. “This year we will be introducing organic and conventional Timpson to our grape mix. Going forward, we are planting new early whites and reds that are improved in flavour and sizing.”

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

The team at Agrofesa complete a big project each year, this year is no different with their new pack house facilities undergoing further development. “One of the new things we have for this season besides the introduction of Timpson to our mix, is our increased capacity of our central pack house, that is equipped with state-of-the-art weighting systems to guarantee a premium quality pack. Grapes are just around the corner. We are headed for a good start around May 12th with our early white organic grapes, with very promising yields. Flame will begin around May 17th. Our mid-to-late season varieties which are Candy Snaps, Timpson, Ivory, Sweet Globe and Sweet Celebration look at least one week earlier compared to last year,” states Ortiz.

Vegetable production in Mexico

During the grape off-season, Ortiz and his team plant and harvest a mix of vegetables. They are busy completing their vegetable harvest to start with the table grape campaign that is earlier. “We are in a very busy times indeed. We are wrapping up our vegetable spring program and starting the summer one.”

He says the weather in Mexico helped to regulate the flow of exports to the US market, ensuring that the market is not flooded. “The winter vegetable crop had very good yields along good market conditions. The weather in some growing regions in Mexico and the US regulated supplies for many weeks. The spring crop so far has had excellent yields along fair market conditions. We expect to finish with strong growing conditions for our summer crop and good market conditions too. There is a severe drought going on in many of Mexico’s growing areas that is limiting the amount of area being grown for the time being. We hope many of these areas get a fair amount of water during the summer so it doesn’t have a negative impact in agriculture and other industries in the future. Many growing areas in Mexico are highly dependable of rain water,” concludes Ortiz.

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

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