"Chile: "Grape production in the fifth region to increase by 30%"

The grape campaign, which has already started in some areas of Chile, will only begin in late December in the fifth region. Ivonne Santibañez, from Agricola Montolín, said this campaign bodes well. "The frost and climate change really affected the stone fruits. So at first we thought this was also going to affect our grape production. Fortunately, that didn't happen, in fact, our volume could grow."

A couple of days ago, other producers said their grape production had decreased by 40%. However, Agricola Montolin predicts that their production will be 30% higher than last year. "Producers are experiencing significant productive differences, depending on the region where their crops are located. However, we've discovered that, due to the temperatures we've had, the different varieties will overlap, unlike other years when the different varieties were harvested in different periods," Santibañez stated.

"The market is behaving as usual, and we hope that these volumes won't affect prices. Fortunately, the Peruvian harvest doesn't coincide with our harvest, so we don't think the market will be saturated, regarding most varieties. Additionally, the United States has significant stocks, mainly of red seedless grapes, which leaves room in the market for our white grape," she stated.

For more information:

Ivonne Santibañez
Agrícola Montolín
T: +56-34 2611150
comex@montolin.cl
www.montolin.cl