The grape market is struggling desperately as supplies of red and white seedless from Brazil come to a premature end.
One importer told freshinfo that a host of circumstances have combined to complicate the situation further.
He said: “A lot of people anticipated problems with Greek white seedless, so programmed to finish early and get into Brazil as soon as possible. But Brazil was then forecasting a 20 per cent shortfall in volume and was sending more to the US. Growers there were having quality issues with slip skin and shattering and then heavy rains finished off what remained - about 40 per cent of the crop.”
The heavy rainfall last month in the Petrolinas area was the earliest the Brazilian growing region has experienced its rainy season in about 20 years, with 100mm falling in a single day on October 17.
The situation on red seedless fruit has been little better. One category manager said: “The large volumes forecast at the beginning of the season did not turn out to be as heavy as predicted because a lot of the fruit either didn’t colour up or didn’t the desired sugar levels.”
Brazil does not have as much red fruit as white. And because importers had been expecting plenty of volume from Spain and were not looking so much to the US because of exchange rate issues when making their programmes, the problems in Brazil have hit especially hard.
One source said: “It is a very tricky situation and we are just getting a few dribs and drabs from Spain. There will be no let-up until South Africa comes on stream, but that is weeks away.”
Early areas of the Orange River and Transvaal in South Africa are due to begin packing this week.
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