Bad weather crimps Chile cherry deal

Spring this year has not been kind to Chile’s fresh cherry deal. A recent spat of back-to-back days of cold and hot weather, coupled with strong winds, has had a very negative impact on many of Chile’s cherry growers.

 

Producers in the Chillán (Region VIII) growing area – about five hours south of Santiago - reported this week that they may have lost as much as 50 percent of their cherry harvest because of the adverse climatic conditions.

 

Most impacted have been small cherry producers in the communities of Coihueco, San Carlos, Pinto and – most importantly – Chillán, where many cherry export growers produce their fruit. 

 

Still, most of Chile’s export cherries are grown further north, in Region’s VI and VIII, not in Region VIII, where the climate has been slightly better.

 

The cold Spring weather has also had the effect of delaying the cherry harvest by as much as two weeks. This is bad news for early producers looking for top prices.

 

In the 2008/2009 season, Chile’s cherry producers exported 38,000 tons of fruit, less than the previous year.  This season, initial estimates put the export volumes at about 37,000 tons.

 

“But we are going to have to look at these numbers again,” said Isabel Quiroz, CEO at I-Qonsulting, a Santiago-based fruit consultancy firm. “We feel this year’s cherry export deal will be considerably less than what the original estimates suggested.”

 

Also impacted by the adverse Spring weather, but less dramatically so, have been the blueberry, kiwifruit, pear and apple deals. Initial export volumes for all these fruit will have to be adjusted downward, said Quiroz.