Both growers and the authorities in Argentina and Chile are remaining guarded when it comes to counting the cost of the cold snap that struck southern South America two weeks ago.
Chilean agriculture minister José Antonio Galilea has visited avocado and citrus production over the past week to see at first hand damage to trees and fruit and urged against price speculation.
Meanwhile, in Tucumán in north-western Argentina provincial governor José Alperovich said damage was not as bad as first feared. He said: “It remains to be seen how badly affected blueberries are, but in general, the impact is not as severe as we thought.”
The Argentinean blueberry chamber, Capab said it was still assessing damage as the frosts continued even into last week and in some parts fell to as low as -5°C for up to 10 hours. “Given that the frosts have been so recent, there is no information being made public yet as to total damage,” Capab’s Sergio Oniszczuk told freshinfo. However, unconfirmed reports from the Tucumán area indicate that up to a quarter of production might have been lost, although this is predominantly early fruit that is not destined for the UK.
Citrus production in north-west Argentina is likely to have suffered, not least because of the sheer weight of snow on some trees which has caused branches to break. The Tucumán region is a major source of southern hemisphere lemons.
