The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s first report on grapes in cold storage this season shows grape holdings at their lowest point in the past four seasons.
The report, released in mid-September, shows a total of 7.89 million boxes in cold storage. That includes grapes in bags, clamshells and other packaging.
Mid-September totals for all grapes in recent years are:
- 2018: 10.81 million boxes
- 2017: 8.48 million boxes
- 2016: 9.21 million boxes
The greatest amount of a specific variety is Scarlet Royal, with 2.51 million boxes this year in mid-September. Last season at the same time, there were 4.29 million boxes, and 3.29 million boxes in 2017 and 3.65 million in 2016.
Autumn King, with almost 521,000 boxes, is the second-leading variety in storage, according to the report, compared to about 253,200 last season, almost 798,000 in 2017 and 1.06 million boxes in 2016, according to the USDA report.
Other leading varieties in storage in mid-September were:
- Timco, with 277,700 boxes;
- Red globe, with 249,000 boxes;
- Sweet globe/Sorbet, with 195, 700 boxes; and
- Princess, with 163,600.
The USDA also reported boxes in cold storage for unspecified varieties under an “other” category:
- White: 1.78 million in 2019, 2.75 million in 2018, 2.19 million in 2017, and 1.25 million in 2016;
- Red: 1.08 million in 2019, 1.18 million in 2018, 897,000 in 2017, and 1.31 million in 2016; and
- Black: 403,300 in 2019, 749,600 in 2018, 282,800 in 2017, and 360,600 in 2016.
