The traditional New Year’s Eve grapes arrive in 2023 with lower production and up to 20% more expensive than last yearat an average price of 3.54 euros per kilo, while on the same dates in 2022 they were at 2.29 euros and, in 2021, 2.51, according to Mercamadrid data. The Aledo grape variety, very popular these days, has even doubled its price compared to 12 months ago, as explained by the commercial and marketing director of the Alicante company Uvasdoce, Miriam Cutillas.
An analysis carried out by the consumer organization Facua has revealed that the price of grapes in supermarkets and hypermarkets has increased by up to 227% in the last two months. All in all, grapes are one of those products “that, no matter how expensive they are, have moments of almost obligatory consumption, specifically on New Year’s Eve. No matter how expensive they are, people are going to buy them no matter what… What What happens then is that maybe they stop buying the rest of the days of the year,” says Pedro Aznar, professor in the Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting at Esade.
More product arrives from Peru
Grape sales this last week of the year increase by up to 50% compared to a normal week, despite the fact that its consumption has been seasonally adjusted and is usually consumed during any time of the year. “In Spain there are practically no grapes left,” confirmed the president of the Association of Exporting Producers of Fruits, Table Grapes and Other Agricultural Products (Apoexpa), Joaquín Gómez, who maintained that adverse effects of climate and the situation related to “ship logistics worldwide” has caused that there is currently less supply of grapes than in other years.
For example, in Vinalopó (Alicante), producers of bagged table grapes have had a harvest lower than that of 2022, between 10% and 25%, depending on the variety and the area. The director of the Vinalopó Embolsada Table Grape Denomination of Origin, Beatriz Rocamora, has pointed out that this decrease has meant that 36 million kilos have been collected this season, half of them from Aledo, the traditional New Year’s Eve grape.
Given this situation, the distributor Uvasdoce reports that they are acquiring a greater volume of imported grape from Perubut even so, this New Year’s Eve they are having problems fulfilling orders due to the decrease in volume.
The seedless grape triumphs
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To say goodbye to the year with the chimes, consumers prefer the convenience of seedless grapes. In total, 70% of consumers opt for this type of product, according to data managed by the president of the producers’ association, although the Association of Wholesale Businessmen of the Central Fruit Market of Madrid (Asomafrut) clarifies that the grape Aledo “is still the favorite.”
In the case of companies specializing in grapes for New Year’s Eve, the person in charge of Uvasdoce has estimated that 700,000 units of 12 grapes those that will only sell for the last night of the year. Despite this increase in prices, the demand that is being found to date in the Alicante company is “very high” since, with or without seeds, in bulk or in special packs, the Spaniards will transit between 2023 and 2024 with the 12 traditional grapes.