Harvest situation in the Southern Hemisphere, week 7, 2011

Table Grapes

A cold core high led to unusual rainfall in a variety of zones in Chile in the previous week, and while the event was not intense, some areas recorded sufficient rainfall to cause problems with table grape crops. Preliminary estimates show exports would diminish by 26,018 metric tons (MT), with total shipments of 843,75MT; a figure that is 5.6% lower than what was reached in 2009-10.

An initial assessment showed harvests for both Red Globe Seedless grapes from the IV (Coquimbo) region and Thompson Seedless grapes from the V (Valparaiso) region would decrease by 20%.

In the Aconcagua region, harvests were practically finished for Flame S and Thompson S varieties, showing an improvement of around 50%. Crimson and Red Globe grape harvests had not yet begun when the unusuall rainfall was recorded.

Source: iQonsulting/www.freshfruitportal.com