The latest crop and export report released by the Chilean Blueberry Committee (CBC) has confirmed that, despite a freeze that impacted on some growing areas last week, export forecasts remain unaffected.
The Committee still expects a crop that could top out at 104,530 tonnes, a significant increase on the 74,629 tonnes shipped during the 2013/14 campaign.
'A freeze scare occurred this week,' the Committee report confirmed. 'Blankets of low temperature air (as low as -8ºC for as long as 3.7 hours) extended from Region VI through to Region IX, in some of the growing areas next to the Andes mountains.
'Although some growers could be highly affected, most growers were able to take precautionary measures,' CBC added. 'Thus, the impact on blueberry exports will not be significant and the harvest estimates are still within the range that we predicted in last week’s report.'
The CBC explained that, with regards to exporters, the situation could vary given the number of suppliers in the industry, meaning that collaboration between exporters and importers needed to be close in order to establish what the real impact is for each business.
'The impact could vary from 0-15 per cent, figures that will be confirmed in the next few days once the cold weather’s impact on the fruit can be fully discerned,' the Committee noted.
The CBC noted that a total of 181 tonnes had been sent from Chile up to week 41, all shipped via air, representing 76 per cent more than the estimated total for the 2014/15 season.
Asia still represented the largest proportion of the total shipments to date, with a 51 per cent share, followed by the US with 33 per cent, or approximately 59 tonnes, while Europe has received 19 tonnes so far.
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