UK importer Pacific Produce has finished their imports of Peruvian grapes for the season. According to Rob Cullum from the company it was a good season with good quality fruit.
“We finished imports last week and there was a bit of a shortage on whites towards the end, but reds and blacks were in good supply. Most of our fruit is programmed so it had little effect on us.”
Pacific Produce supplies grapes year-round but the main volumes come from Peru from October to January.
“We are now in our main mango season, it is a bit of a tough season so far with a lot of volume from Peru and sizing is up and down. It is a difficult season to predict and will be a tough season for those who trade on the open market.”
Rob has heard that the Coronavirus is having an impact on shipping as a lot of containers got stuck in Chinese ports and some suppliers are diverting product but they were lucky to have finished their Asian programs before the situation developed.
“So far we have not been affected,” said Rob. “A few of our Brazilian lime growers are reporting problems with container availability. We all have to be very efficient, especially with fresh produce and it doesn’t take much to interrupt the flow, we may suddenly see problems as the knock effects go through the supply chains, but it is difficult to predict.”
Peru has consistent volumes of reefers exporting year round for Pacific Produce, the next products on the horizon are citrus and avocados starting export in March so hopefully there will not be any logistical issues.
For more information:
Robert Cullum
Pacific Produce
+44 (0) 1865877801
Email: rob@pacificproduce.co.uk
www.pacificproduce.co.uk