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As the U.S. table grape import season picks up with Peruvian and Chilean shipments, supplies are anticipated to increase throughout January and into February.<\/p>\n
Amid small challenges, the Peruvian volumes have been up this year in comparison to the average of the last five seasons, according to Mark Greenberg, President of\u00a0Capespan North America<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cPeruvian quality has generally been very good as there haven\u2019t been weather issues, along with good sizes from the orchards north of Lima,\u201d Greenberg told FreshFruitPortal.com.<\/p>\n Due to some labor and social unrest throughout the growing regions, the expectation is that Peru\u2019s volume will start to come down moving into February.<\/p>\n Chile on the other hand is expected to have a later than normal crop, as producers have replanted large volumes of their acreage with new varieties.<\/p>\n \u201cThese newly planted varieties have replaced the previously early maturing varieties with ones that tend to come a bit later, so fruit departing through week four is technically less in volume year-on-year,” Greenberg said.<\/p>\n The weather has also been good in Chile throughout the growing season thus far, with the forecast of excellent fruit.<\/p>\n According to Greenberg, grapes have not enjoyed the \u201cpandemic bump\u201d as have other fruits that are more closely related to immune system strengthening characteristics.<\/p>\n However, \u201cthe market needs grapes and the trick is going to be to keep the inventory moving as to keep the fruit fresh and delivering crisp, strong fruit to retailers\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n When asked about potential concentrated arrivals of table grapes, Greenberg said it wouldn\u2019t surprise him to see slightly irregular arrival patterns, however, there isn\u2019t enough specific information to know at this point.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n