The 2013 San Joaquin Valley table grape harvest got underway in the last week of June with a trickle of Flame Seedless picked in the Arvin area south of Bakersfield.
It’s not unusual for fruit to be packed prior to July in California’s largest growing area but, compared with recent seasons, this year’s deal was running extremely early.
California was in fact anticipating a glut at the start of the San Joaquin season. Both the Coachella and Mexican desert deals had been expected to run well into July.
However, on 28 June, a brutal ten-day heat wave – with temperatures as high as 50°C struck South-Western US, effectively putting to rest any concerns of a production overlap between the two deals.
“Coachella is pretty much finished,” said John Harley of Anthony Vineyards in early July. “The heat limited picking to a few hours in the morning and really slowed down production.”
Drop in shipments
According to the USDA, shipments dropped from a little over 65,000 cartons (8.2 kg) on 1 July to just 8,640 cartons by 6 July.
Crossings of Mexican table grapes through Nogales, Arizona plummeted from 100,000 cartons to 46,000 for the same period. The San Joaquin Valley’s production also suffered under the extreme heat.
“A significant percentage of the early fruit in San Joaquin literally got cooked on the vine,” said Todd Bassett, who operates a table grape inspection service for both domestic and export clients.
“There were a lot of Flame and Sugraone that simply did not have sufficient sugars yet that just didn’t make it.'
The early summer heat served to keep FOB prices for table grapes at far higher levels than had been expected.
Expecting a sloppy market in late June lasting well into July, many of the major grower-shippers had scheduled promotional programmes with US retailers on San Joaquin fruit, only to see production drop off because of the high temperatures.
“Domestic retail buyers switched from the desert to San Joaquin as soon as they could,” said one salesperson working for a major marketer in the Bakersfield area.
“Export quality fruit is hard to find at the moment and there could be issues with quality for much of the first part of the season.
Record still in sight
The California Table Grape Commission has forecast a record crop of 106.9m cartons (8.6kg) for 2013, up from a record 100.2m cartons packed last year.
“The industry probably has another record crop on its hands,” agreed Bassett. “There could be as much as 110m carton equivalents hanging on the vines but how much of that fruit will end up in a box this year remains to be seen.”
