The season began with an average delay of 10 days due to previous weather events. Now, again, the normal development of the fruit impacts producers and exporters.
At dawn, on Friday, January 22, it started sprinkling (under 1mm accumulated) in San Javier (Maule) and then it rained on Saturday the 23. There was also a drizzle in the Coquimbo Region and some rains between the Region of Valparaiso and some parts of the Region of Maule on the 23 (from 2 to 13mm in some areas). There were rains in the Bio Bio Region and south of it. Last year, there were no rains recorded in December and January in this vast area.
Apricot and cherry harvests have already ended. Likewise, the blueberry harvest in the O'Higgins Region came to an end, but there still are some other fruit crops that need to be harvested between Atacama and Los Lagos. There are still significant volumes for table grapes, plums, nectarines, peaches, and pear harvests, as well as in the harvest of some other fruits and berries.
The Metropolitan and O'Higgins areas had the highest rainfalls, according to a report by the Fruit Development Foundation (FDF),
Ronald Bown, president of the Fruit Exporters Association AG, said: "This weather event has altered, once again, the normal development of the current fruit season, generating additional costs to producers."
He added: "These adverse climatic conditions for fruit for export crops involves stopping the harvest for at least a day and perform preventive applications against diseases of fungal origin in all orchards."
"Meanwhile, the large snowfalls on the eastern coast of the United States are causing the stoppage of port activities, transport and trade, affecting the fruits that had just arrived to the ports in the area, as well as the fruit that is about to be sent to distribution centers or that is about to be discharged at ports in the Philadelphia area," he added.
According to ASOEX, exports so far in the current season (2015-2016) amount to an overall total of 486,582 tons of fruit sent to different target markets; i.e. 10.31% less than in the same period last year.
