North America Edition
ASOEX presented the Table Grape Committee's first export forecast for the 2021-2022 season.
“According to this first estimate for the 2021-2022 table grape shipping season, Chile will export around 84.6 million standardized 8.2-kilo boxes. This is 14.9% more than in the 2019-2020 season, and 29.3% more than in the 2020-2021 season, as this production was impacted by unexpected summer rains," stated the president of the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association, Ronald Bown Fernandez.
“This estimate shows a significant growth in shipments and a recovery in the Chilean table grape industry. The higher export volumes are mainly driven by the more than 73.5% increase in new varieties over the 2019-2020 season and by the more than 49.1% increase over the shipments in the 2020-2021 period."
Shipments of new varieties are expected to reach 35 million boxes, followed by traditional varieties with 32 million boxes, and the Red Globe variety with just over 17 million boxes. “Our estimate, as well as the results of previous seasons, clearly show that the Chilean table grape industry is betting on producing new varieties, which have a better reception in the destination markets and allow improving the competitiveness of the national sector. The country still exports traditional varieties, such as the Red Globe variety, but our statistics show there is a continuous decline in their export volume. For example, 10 years ago our country exported more than 27 million boxes of Red Globe grapes, and today it only exports about 17 million boxes of this variety,” he stated.
It should also be noted that as part of work to replace old varieties, Chile now has a very important volume of green fruit, which is highly desired by international markets, such as the United States, China, and South Korea, among others.
The industry will deliver a second estimate in mid-January 2022, Ronald Bown stated.
