Grapes in Charts: Prices hit five-year high despite heavy October volumes

The seasonality of the grape market in the U.S. is clearly marked. At the start of the year, California volumes fall off and are replaced by Peru and then Chile. Chilean grapes finish around May or June, when Mexican begins to send fruit.

Once Mexico finishes, California starts the cycle up again, as can be seen in the chart below.

Currently, average reported prices of California grapes are at a five-year high in the U.S. market – around US$21.10 per box. At the same time last year, prices were at their lowest in five years – just US$14.96 per box.

Despite that, in terms of supply levels from California, October saw the greatest volumes in five years for that month, with 170,753 metric tons (MT) reported by the USDA.

High volumes don’t always lead to low prices. As we commented in a previous ‘In Charts’ article, stock levels could have a significant effect on pricing. According to the USDA, stocks rose by around 18% in the second half of October, which may have helped to absorb the impact of the high volumes.

So far November looks to be a quieter month, with substantially lower volumes than October.

Written by: Cristian Crespo F.
Original published in FreshFruitPortal.com on November 17, 2019 (Link)