California table grape shipments 'to continue through January'

More News Top Stories
California table grape shipments 'to continue through January'

The California Table Grape Commission says that shipments are expected to continue "through the end of January" in what has been a record-breaking season.

Gowers shipped more than 27.7 million boxes into the worldwide marketplace from Oct. 13 to Nov. 30, the highest amount ever for the time period, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The previous seven-week shipment record during the same time period was set in 2013.

Earlier this season, the five-week shipping record for the time period between Sept. 8 through Oct. 12 was broken.

The three-month period of Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 set another record with over 55 million boxes of grapes shipped - an all-time high, beating the previous record set in 2013 for this time period.

Kathleen Nave, president of the California Table Grape Commission, said that aggressive fall and winter promotion programs are continuing.

The later end to the California table grape deal means there will likely be significant overlap with Peruvian and Chilean supplies. The Peruvian season began a few weeks ago, while the first Chilean harvests took place at the end of November.

The heavy California supplies also caused some of the lowest prices seen in years over the fall period, according to USDA data. The average values over much of November down by around a quarter on the three-year average.

 

Subscribe to our newsletter