Table grapes make a splash before the end of the year and double their price at origin

Like many food products, the healthy tradition of inaugurating the new year by tasting the 12 lucky grapes will be more expensive than in 2022. Table grapes are preparing to ring the bell for next December 31, above all, those of the Aledo variant. A type of grape that grows in the Vinalopó Valley (Alicante) and the only one in Europe recognized with a Protected Designation of Origin (DOP). “This year everything is sold and at a good price,” summarizes Esther who, together with her partner, runs a 7-hectare farm dedicated to this fruit and has her own brand (‘Uvas Amaia’). This producer has been paid 2.70 euros/kg for their grapes this campaign, when in previous years they were paid between 1.20 and 1.40 euros/kg. Even below the euro. In Mercamadrid, according to its statistics, in recent days more than 200,000 kg of this grape have been sold with a price range between 4 and 2.50 euros/kg. While, in Mercabarna, 52,401 kg of white grapes from Alicante have already entered at an average price of 5.14 euros per kilo.

Sources from the Denomination of Origin ‘Uva de Mesa Embolsada del Vinalopó’ point to lower production this year and estimate a decrease of “around 10% in all variants” of the DOP (Victoria, Ideal, Doña María, Red Globe, Rosetti, Dominga and Aledo) after “many months with sustained high temperatures” that have ended up “stressing” the plant. All this, in a campaign that takes place between September and January in which pests and the “reduction of active materials” have also been more present. In this sense, these sources believe that the above will not impact the price so directly and maintain that everything “depends on how the year will work” since it is a perishable product that must be disposed of. “Last year there was a brutal drop in price due to no demand,” he explains. Furthermore, despite recognizing greater demand, they do not see prices as much more expensive than on other occasions.

“Water, treatments, manure, even the paper of the bags: everything has increased,” highlights Esther, who runs a 7-hectare farm in the Vinalopó Valley (Alicante).

For her part, Esther (‘Uvas Amaia’) points out that “the grapes have not increased since 2021” and that the current campaign would compensate for two very bad years “in which we have produced at a loss.” Specifically, she does not hesitate to call the previous campaign a “disaster”, although she regrets that this year “less than 20,000 kg of Doña María Grapes” were produced due to the high temperatures and drought. This farmer also asks to evaluate a crop that, in Vinalopó, is worked in an artisanal way through bagging, and that has not been immune to the escalation of inputs since the start of the war in Ukraine (February 2022). “Water, treatments, manure, even the paper in the bags: everything has gone up,” she says.

COAG estimated in November that between prices at origin and those paid by consumers in the case of table grapes there was an increase of up to 537%. This agricultural organization carries out this monthly study, based on a sample of supermarkets, and they indicated that the farmer was paid 0.92 euros/kg for his product while the consumer paid an average of 5.86 euros/kg.

Climate and escalation of inputs

The person in charge of ‘Uvas Amaia’ also highlights the impact of the latest reform of the Agri-Food Chain Law, which includes, since the middle of the year, the mandatory digital registration of agricultural contracts and establishes that these cover the production costs in which farmers will incur. “Before the prices did not reach the euro per kilo with separate commissions,” he points out about a market that has “wakened up” and “risen up.”

“There are very few grapes for Christmas and they are very expensive,” says Antonio Costa, who is president of COAG in Totana (Murcia).

In neighboring Murcia, another of the table grape producing areas at this time of year, the president of the agricultural organization COAG in Totana Antonio Costa also detects lower production due to the influence of the climate “although the quality is up to par.” Costa highlights the strong demand in the months of September and October: “There are very few grapes for Christmas and they are very expensive,” a summary of a campaign that he defines as “not bad” and “faster.” When asked about the prices at origin, he acknowledges that “these are already above the euro per kilo, after years below.” However, he remembers that production costs have skyrocketed in recent years: “Fertilizers, plastics due to Israel’s war with Gaza, labor…,” he lists.

Costa, who is also a table grape producer, affirms that on his farm production has been similar to that of 2022, “with a few kilos less”, and that he has already sold “almost everything.” Especially at the end of September and October. In any case, he explains that he only dedicates 15% of the harvest to the domestic market while the rest is exported to Europe or Asia.