The intense frosts in September in the Argentine province of Mendoza have decreased the region's fruit production, mainly affecting stone fruit trees because they occurred in the flowering period. According to estimates, production will vary as follows when compared to a normal production: peach for industry -54%, peach for fresh consumption -57%, plum for industry -57%, cherry -63% and apricot -74%. No large losses are expected in pome fruits.
The fruit harvest forecasting program of the Regional Development Institute, IDR, also estimates the caliber that will be achieved by species and variety. According to estimates, next season there will be an increase in the percentages greater caliber fruit in all of the species evaluated. 72% of the peach for industry will be destined for halves (of a caliber greater than 57 mm in diameter), i.e.46,000 tons of large caliber fruit, which should allow producers to achieve better prices. Only 7% of the plum for industry will be of small caliber, so 60,000 fresh tons correspond to medium and large sized fruit.
This panorama presents a very low production at the provincial level, but a toning of the prices paid to the producer for those farmers who were able to defend their production from the inclement weather. In the case of peach and nectarine for fresh consumption, the price increase exceeds more than 100%, on average, while the inflation rate stands at around 55%.
Meanwhile, this season's average cherry prices are 5 times higher than in the previous season, even though the harvest was similar to that of last year; something similar to what is happening with garlic. Finally, prices of apricots for fresh consumption have increased by 150%.
There are still no prices for peaches for industry, plums for consumption, pears and apples, but significant growth is expected.
