The peak apple season has just come to an end in Brazil. The final figures have not yet been reported, but it appears that the harvest has been smaller than in the previous campaign.
"We finished harvesting one or two weeks ago. The last apples to be harvested were the Cripp's Pink in the region of Vacaria and the Fuji in the region of Santa Catarina," explains Pierre Nicolas Peres, of Pomagri. “The volume is smaller than last year’s because of the weather conditions, mainly due to the impact of El Niño. We have suffered many changes in the weather during the season. First, we had late frosts; then heavy rainfall and plenty of cold during the spring. All this has not been good for the fruit’s development.”
“There's less fruit than we expected and calibres are also smaller because of the lack of sunshine during the flowering period, when there was a lot of rain. We have recorded a reduction of the volume in kilos," he adds, stressing that the harvest finished just two weeks ago, so it is still to early to know all the figures. However, we can say that there has been a reduction of at least 20%.
“So far, exports have been similar to last year’s, but I guess these will fall in June and we’ll probably export somewhat less than last year.” However, he predicts an increase in the import of apples to Brazil compared to the previous year. “From what we have seen in May, they have generally been quite high.” He explains that Brazil has received twice as much volume as last year from Chile, while it´s difficult to measure imports from China because of some phytosanitary problems, which prevented the country from exporting apples to Brazil for a period of 60 days last year, making it difficult to make an accurate comparison. “What we have seen is a recovery of imports, which is probably a reflection of the situation of the Brazilian production.”
In the second half of the year, he expects more apples to arrive to the market and, therefore, to have the situation under better control, with supply more in line with demand. “Normally, during the harvest season, we have plenty of apples to supply the market, which often results in a price reduction. Given that we had no oversupply this year, demand has been more in line with supply, which has remained very stable,” he explains. “I guess we are in a situation of balance in which, no doubt, there is room for imports, but supply and demand are easier to cover,” he concludes.
