Grapes from U.S. vineyards making their way to grocery shelves

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - Table grapes have been rolling out of California's San Joaquin Valley _ across the nation and around the world _ for several weeks and will continue to do so through October.

Despite a brushback from an unexpected frost in late April that hit near South Valley foothills and elsewhere in the state, the crop appears to be on course to match harvest expectations of 96 million 19-pound boxes statewide.

That's up about 5 percent from last year, said Barry Bedwell, who heads the California Grape and Tree Fruit League in Fresno.

But Bedwell said the harvest was lighter than expected in the Coachella Valley.

Overall, however, "it's a very good quality crop," he said.

George Matoian, a salesman for Kingsburg-based Visalia Produce Sales Inc., said grapes are faring better than tree fruit.

Still, there's competition among grape varieties on the shelf. "It's been a little sluggish on the green seedless grapes with the advent of other varieties," he said.

That's been especially the case with the green Thompson seedless, an industry staple, which is facing tougher competition from the Princess, a bigger white, muscat-flavored variety, and the white/green Sugar One, Matoian said.

Matoian said the table grape harvest started the first week in July with the red Flame seedless. He said prices have held "about average or a little above average, with a premium for good-sized fruit."

The fresh grape crop was valued at about $117.7 million in Fresno County in 2007 and $416.3 million in Tulare County.

Chic Kandarian, who grows grapes in the Coachella Valley and Selma-Fowler area, said costs of growing grapes is higher this year and is cutting into profits. He said the good news is that there has been an adequate labor supply.

Kandarian also said Mexican imports early in the season "killed us. They were bombing the price."

On the flipside, exports of California table grapes are a bright spot.

The California Table Grape Commission says California produces about 98 percent of the fresh grapes in the United States and exports about a third of its crop.

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© 2008, The Fresno Bee (Fresno, Calif.).