The 2013 San Joaquin Valley table grape season got off to a relatively smooth start in late June and looks to be on course for record volumes.
The latest estimate issued by the California Table Grape Commission at mid-season calls for a crop of 105.7m cartons (8.6 kg), down 1.2m cartons from the April forecast but still a record crop for the industry if the figures hold. As the San Joaquin harvest moves north, demand from export markets, particularly in Asia, is helping to support the market for California grapes.
“Exports are jumping now,” said Todd Bassett, who operates a quality inspection service for both domestic and export markets. “We’re already seeing the initial shipments for the Moon Festival on Red Globes as well as Scarlet Royal. Malaysia and Taiwan are both in (the market) as is Thailand. Both China and Hong Kong have been a bit quiet so far, but that should change soon.”
With the Moon Festival falling on 20 September this year, there is expected to be ample availability of California grapes for the Chinese holiday. This is in contrast to the 2011 season when fruit from the San Joaquin was delayed by as much as three weeks due to unusually mild weather. After a hot start to the season this year, there had been some concerns that Red Globes would struggle for size.
“They grew after all,” said Bassett. “From early July onward, the weather conditions up and down the valley have just about been perfect and that probably allowed the ‘Globes’ to size up after all.”
If there is a cloud on the horizon for the 2013 California table grape season, it’s that the harvest may wind up relatively early – possibly by the beginning of November. During the slow fruit maturing seasons of 2010 and 2011, picking of late varieties, such as Autumn King and Autumn Royal, continued to nearly December.
