Chilean grapes started to arrive in the UK and Europe in small volumes in January, but at that time the main volumes were coming from Peru, South Africa and later from India. The main volumes from Chile to Europe/UK started the arrive late March/early April.
"We see most of the interest for red seedless Chilean grapes from mid-April till mid-June. The Red Globe variety is seeing good movement as well, we have had arrivals since mid-April," according to Boris Manz from Fruit Growers Alliance.
"The early season from the north of Chile started few days early, however the bigger volumes are coming from the central area, which was delayed by around 2 weeks. This of course brought pressure on prices and with more volumes it is more challenging when packing into clamshells."
"In general, conditions have been good, we have had a small amount of rain, but we are seeing good quality on our arrivals. The fruit is looking nice, brix levels are good and sizes are in line with our customer's specifications. At the moment on red seedless we have arrivals of Allison, Timco, Sweet Celebration and Crimson. We also have a very good program on Red Globes. On white seedless from Chile, we are mainly focussing on Autumn Crisp, Sweet Globe and Arra15. Additionally on white seedless we have a very interesting program from Piura, Peru with Sugar Crisp, the fruit that's arriving in Europe and the UK is of exceptional quality and condition."
FGA target sales from April until early June and the demand is looking very good and prices are at a good level, according to Boris.
"At the moment there's still some South African red seedless around, however we don't see any issues with that as volumes are not big. On white seedless we are seeing very important volumes from India; however, we are focusing on other varieties to gain a premium space for our fruit from Chile and Peru. We are generally very positive about this South Hemisphere season to Europe and the UK, and are working to close on a high."
For more information:
Boris Manz
Fruit Growers Alianza
boris.manz@fgaltd.co.uk