California pomegranates set up for a good fall

Suppliers expect a good season and rising demand for California pomegranates.

California pomegranates are a true fall fruit, with nearly all shipments of whole fruit moved from September through December.

The average shipping point price for California pomegranates was $30.01 per carton, up from $29.77 in 2019 and $23.08 from 2018.

2020 shipments of pomegranates from California were up 7% from in 2019, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics.

Suppliers said the pomegranate crop outlook is good, despite hot weather during the growing season.

Pomegranate harvest will start the first week in September for Fresno, Calif.-based Trinity Fruit Co., said Levon Ganajian, vice president of retail relations.

The company markets a proprietary variety called Aco from Israel in September, and wonderful pomegranates begin the first week of October. Organic wonderful pomegranates also will be available in October, Ganajian said.

“We expect a crop very similar to last year, except in our early deal where we are going to be up quite a bit due to new plantings coming into production,” he said. 

Because of hot weather, pomegranate coloring has been developing slower than usual, but quality is expected to be excellent.

The Aco variety may peak on size 30s, while the wonderful variety may peak on 22s, he said. Whole fruit pomegranates will be marketed through December, while the company’s arils will continue into April.

“Every year we are seeing demand continue to increase,” he said. “Every year seems to be getting better and better, and this year is going to be no exception.”

With imports complimenting California supply, nearly year-round availability of pomegranates and arils have pushed consumption higher, he said.

“Our biggest crop was last year, and we’re expecting an even larger crop,” said Maurice Cameron, president of Hanford, Calif.-based Flavor Tree Fruit Co. LLC. 

Cameron said he had been expecting a down year for production in 2021 but turned out to be wrong. Cameron said Flavor Tree Fruit expects to ship about 1.3 million 25-pound cartons of pomegranates.

Flavor Tree Fruit Co. has an aril production facility in Kern County, and Cameron said that business has been growing fast. Aril shipments will start at the end of October and continue through February, or perhaps March if quality is good.

Whole pomegranate shipments may continue until about the second week of January, he said, just long enough to have some fruit for Super Bowl parties.

Typically, about a quarter of pomegranates are exported, and Cameron said there are challenges. 

“Exports been complex with COVID,” he said, noting that it has been difficult to achieve timely deliveries because of equipment shortages.

However, Cameron said the good shelf life of pomegranates allows it to endure some delays. 

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