Traditionally, Mexicans ring in the new year eating 12 grapes, one for each strike of the clock at midnight.
This year, the price of grapes is beyond many families’ budgets. At Abastos Market, the price of grapes is up 170 percent over December 29, 2008. Last year, the price was 18 pesos per kilo, wholesale. This year it is 49 pesos per kilo and at some supermarkets the retail price is 70-80 pesos per kilo. The main grape importer in the market said low production in California and a compensatory tariff levied by Mexico on some U.S. products were to blame for the high price of green seedless grapes. Chilean red grapes were also in short supply this year.
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