Peruvian citrus arrivals delayed

Imports of citrus from Peru were late this season for importer Pacific Produce, "We are normally first," explains Rob Cullum from the company. "Local prices were good and the European market was not, due to Moroccan and Spanish nadercotts still on the market and also an influx of cheap South African fruit. So we delayed a little bit but the fruit will be arriving in a few weeks."

"We have a challenge this year as the Dollar has been against us, but this is a long term business and these things turn around, next year could be different. We have long term customers so when things are tight we always honour our agreements and deliver the best quality, we don't run around chasing other markets," said Cullum.

The sizes from Peru appear to be normal which is good in comparison with South Africa's lack of big fruit. The Peruvian citrus season is early which has been the case with all of the different fruit this year in Peru. El Nino has caused most produce to be 10 days to 2 weeks early.

"From our first few weeks of production it looks like yield will be slightly down on normal, but nothing to panic about. South Africa is also down on citrus volumes, but we will wait to see what they do with it," states Cullum. "The difference with South Africa is that there are several growing regions and certainly this year there is a big difference in the production from each of these regions, it is more like three different countries actually. While in Peru we have El Nino to contend with once in every 7-10 years which can be dramatic but most of the time it is stable so we can be pretty accurate on start dates and volumes."

Cullum goes on to say that Peru are also more consolidated on citrus as two companies hold 70+% of the citrus so yield information is accurate.

"It is too early to predict the season but we think we will have good volumes and nice quality, our biggest challenge is the exchange rate both for Pound and Euro. While South Africa dominates in the Middle East, due to the proximity, we have the US for the same reason so it is swings and roundabouts really," according to Cullum.

"Everybody is saying that Northern Hemisphere Nadorcotts will finish early which would create a gap for clementines, lets see if that will happen, but I am relatively positive for our citrus this year despite the exchange rate," concludes Cullum.

For more information:

Robert Cullum
Pacific Produce
+44 (0) 1865877801
Email: rob@pacificproduce.co.uk
www.pacificproduce.co.uk