California grape crop to be earlier and larger than last year - Vanguard - FreshFruitPortal.com

California grape crop to be earlier and larger than last year - Vanguard

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California grape crop to be earlier and larger than last year - Vanguard

The California table grape crop is set to be earlier and slightly larger than last year, according to an update provided by Vanguard.

"Overall growing conditions have been good throughout California lending itself to a positive outlook for the upcoming season," it said.

"Timing initially was expected to be about 10 days earlier than last season, but due to some cooler weather this has pushed harvest back a few days, landing at around a few days earlier than last season."

It said the 2020 forecast is for 106.5m boxes, which is up on 2019's 104.8m boxes but below the three-year average of 109.5m boxes.

Availability from the main growing region in California, the Central Valley, is not expected until July, although "things are forecasted for a good start-up out of this region", it said.

The earliest district to harvest in California, Coachella, has started in small quantities for domestic markets.

Meanwhile, the grape season in Mexico is underway. The overall crop estimate is down about 20% from last year with estimates for 2020 at 19.7 million boxes. There was challenging weather earlier this season that slowed down the front end, but now volumes have since been ramping up.

There will be an overlap of availability between Mexico and the early district in California, Coachella, that will last through June.

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