The 2024/25 season gets underway as 80 cartons of Chilean cherries arrive in Shanghai
The first delivery of Chilean cherries for the 2024/25 season has landed in Shanghai, according to Chinese fruit importer, Riverking.
Riverking told Asiafruit 80 boxes of Río King cherries landed at Shanghai Pudong Airport on 12 October and were transferred to Shanghai Huizhan Market on 14 October. The delivery featured a range of large, extra large and jumbo cherries of the Cheery Crunch variety.
“Although the first batch of arrivals is not large, only 80 boxes, the quality has been well received by the market,” Riverking said. “The sugar content of reddish fruits is over 17, and the sugar content of black fruits is over 21.”
Global Times reported that prices for the first batch started at Rmb700-1,000 (US$98-140) per carton (5kg).
The arrival of Chilean cherries is earlier than in previous years thanks to the development of low-chill varieties over the past two years.
“The production area uses equipment to make the fruit trees enter dormancy early, and after reaching the required chill hours, it naturally promotes early flowering and fruiting,” Riverking explained. “The overall yield of early varieties is relatively low, and the corresponding planting area is also relatively small.”
The company said that the next batch of Chilean cherries will arrive in a few days, and it expects the arrival volume to increase after 10 November, reaching its peak in mid-December.
In its latest season forecast, the Chilean Cherry Committee said it expects Chilean cherry exports to reach a record 657,935 tonnes, or 131.6mn cartons (5kg) in the 2024/25 season, a huge increase of 59 per cent over the previous season.
