First Sonora grapes trickle north, marketers prepare to manage transition
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” and a 20-million box season begins with box one.
Crossing of Early Sweets, Perlettes and other early green varieties has begun at Nogales and are immediately being absorbed into the market. Flames and a dozen other varieties of all colors will follow shortly.
The growers have been coordinating with their distributors and retail partners on an ongoing basis all spring. The Sonora Grape Growers Association’s role is to support these activities by publishing crop information, said Juan Laborin, AALPUM general manager.
The original crop estimate of 21,500,000 cartons was released at the virtual Sonora Summit March 30. AALPUMs technical advisory group feels that estimate is still valid. That estimate forecasted the second week of May at just under 400,000 cartons and the first week of June at about 4,000,000. That’s a tenfold increase in 3 weeks.
“The sellers’ most critical task is creating sufficient demand in advance of harvest. Retailers must have the confidence in the reliability of supplies or that just doesn’t happen”, said John Pandol, chairman of the grape division of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas.
