California stonefruit producers are striving to make the most of its export potential this year, as they deal with a bumper crop.
Production of peachs, plums and nectarines reached 57 million packages, weighing at 25lb each for peaches and nectarines, and 28lb for plums.
Shipments to the UK will continue for another few weeks.
Some 500,000 packages were exported to the UK last year, up from 250,000 the previous year.
It is still too early to pin down the final figure for this season.
Gordon Smith, manager of international marketing programmes at the California Tree Fruit Agreement (CTFA), told FPJ: “We have had a huge production this year and it has been the largest we have had for five years.
“But it has been tough year, and the strength of the dollar and against sterling is going to factor into purchase decisions.
“The peak of shipments to the UK were sent after September 1, when the European season started to slow down. Until then, we were doing steady business and some of the main UK retailers were carrying one or two of our lines throughout the season.
“This is building on last year’s results, which were fantastic - we increased shipments to the UK by 100 per cent.
“The increased crop has put incredible pressure on our domestic market, but total exports are up in our key markets. The export markets have been critical for our guys this year.”
Smith said the next two months will be “critical” for growers based on the returns for the whole season.
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