China has begun to receive a torrent of Chilean grapes that were dispatched in the wake of the port strike that ended in mid-April.
Export data shows that Chile shipped around 2.8m cartons of Red Globe to China in a three-week period from week 15.
“The port strikes had a severe impact on Chile’s exports this year,” said Rod Hill, import manager of Golden Wing Mau. “They had around 10-12 days when exports were severely disrupted. This was a critical peak period for exports and as soon as the strike ended, growers were forced to ship huge volumes.”
Those shipments are now arriving on the market. “The market received a big increase in volumes from the second week of May, and we expect these volumes to continue for the next few weeks,” said Hill.
Prior to the port strike, Chile had sent only around 3m cartons to China for the season, so supplies were relatively low. “Now, we’ve got roughly the same amount coming in all at once, so it's a case of famine to feast,” he added.
While prices dropped sharply last week in reaction to the initial influx, the market has since stabilised, and initial fears of a market collapse may prove unfounded.
Certainly, the near-3m-carton influx looks to be an interesting test of the market’s capacity.
“It could be that China can absorb the volume,” said Hill. “We are seeing more fruit arriving into North China this year. It’s hard to say what the final impact will be.”
The heavy shipments to China were compounded by the fact that the port strike prevented exporters landing fruit in Korea before a seasonal import duty hike kicked in there. As such, shippers diverted sendings to China.
Chile’s shipments of Red Globe to China are set to reach around 7.5m cartons for the season, up from 6.5m cartons in 2012. Significant volumes of Chilean Crimson Seedless and Autumn Royal have also been arriving, with export data indicating shipments of 617,000 cartons and 639,000 cartons through week 19.
