The volume of U.S. table grapes in storage is now running higher than last year, following an increase in volumes of Autumn King and Allison over the last two weeks.

There were 13.7 million boxes in storage as of Oct. 31, according to the USDA's latest Western Fruit Report Grape Cold Storage Summary.

That figure represents a sharp increase from the 11.1 million boxes registered in mid-October and a slight rise above the 13.2 million from this time last year.

The increase in the second half of October this year was driven partly by the Autumn King variety, whose volumes rose from 2.3 million boxes to 4.7 million. At the end of October last year there were 3.6 million boxes of Autumn King.

In addition, volumes of the Allison variety have increased substantially, growing over the second half of October from 582,000 boxes to 2.2 million. The new figure remains below the 2.5 million recorded at this time last year.

As of the end of October in the bumper 2018 season, there were a total of 18.1 million boxes in storage.