The Chilean stonefruit season got off to a slow start, and the effects from that have rippled throughout the season. Fewer vessels containing Chilean nectarines and peaches have been arriving in the U.S., and their arrivals have been spaced out further than usual. As a result, volumes of imported fruit have been scarce and prices for that fruit have been high.“There was an issue with the bloom in Chile, and growers there got hit with some cold spells,” said Steve Pearson of Bengard Marketing, explaining why there was less production early in the season. “But it's more of a logistics issue now. The volume of grapes is overtaking some of the stonefruit. Growers are going from port to port, and they're not getting enough fruit at a single port to get on a ship.”
He mentioned that a couple of ships containing peaches and nectarines from Chile were supposed to arrive this week in Southern California. The second ship, scheduled to arrive at the end of the week, had its stonefruit cargo bumped to a later trip. So, instead of waiting three or four days between stonefruit arrivals, importers will have to wait about 10 days for the next shipment.
“Supply is low, so everything coming in gets gobbled up and prices are high,” said Pearson. “Hopefully, we'll have more volumes in mid-February and prices can go down.”
For more information:
Steve Pearson
Bengard Marketing
+1 310 605 5105