Mexico's grape season is already one of the shortest in North America at roughly eight weeks, and this year it's getting compressed further. Chilean inventory is still sitting on retail shelves, while an unusually early California start looms on the back end.
Some retailers prefer not switching to Mexican grapes until South American stock clears, leaving Mexican fruit sitting in coolers longer than it should. The quality hit is falling hardest on the spot market; growers and shippers with established programs are faring better. Mexico's harvest is about 60 percent complete, with 40 percent still to come.
California's Central Valley is expected to start in the last week of June due to warm weather — earlier than it's ever started — and Mexico is projected to keep shipping into early July, meaning the two will overlap.
Worth watching: spot pricing and quality on Mexican table grapes over the next few weeks as shippers race to move inventory before the California overlap arrives.