The grape crop in Chile's earliest region of Copiapó looks of excellent quality and is likely to come on stream 10-14 days earlier than last year. Alan Guindi of importer Richard Hochfeld Ltd reports very favourable conditions. "The crop is early but the sugars are good enough because fruit has had the right amount of rainfall at the right time and it has been quite warm," said Guindi. "They are having a really good summer in Chile."
Hochfeld expects to start shipping Thompson Seedless later this month from Copiapó and will also have Superior Seedless from Mendoza in Argentina as well as black seedless variety Black Beauty.
Heavy rainfall in South African growing regions also seems to have allayed fears of a clash in Europe between late-running and early Chilean produce. "There is always a bit of a clash on the marketplace so there is nothing unusual in that with South Africa having some bad weather, I don't see it being a problem this year," said Guindi.
But other receivers are more concerned. "The UK is a very attractive market for the Chileans because sterling is so strong against the dollar so we would warn them not to flood the market with fruit outside programmes," one importer told freshinfo.
He pointed out that late South African supplies might mean more Chilean fruit going into store earlier in the season than usual.
Another UK handler for the supermarkets also warns that while white seedless could experience an oversupply, the picture is different for pigmented varieties. "The situation could run tight on red seedless with South African Flame finishing before Chilean supplies get on the water," he said. "So there could be a shortfall at the end of January and in early February."
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