There is going to be fruit from Chile this season. That’s the sentiment North American importers have following this past weekend’s sizable rains and flooding in Chile--a weather event that has been described as the worst weather the country has seen in a decade.
According to the Chilean Citrus Committee, because the country is just getting started on the citrus season, they say they haven’t had any damage to the citrus crops and they’re not expecting any delays with harvesting or shipping as a result of the rain. ”Chile needed the rain but obviously too much too fast caused some horrible flood situations in the country,” adds James Rasmussen, sales and marketing manager with LGS Specialty Sales.
However, with weather events such as this one, the situation evolves constantly. “The uncertainty at this point is going have the importers facing some challenges as they determine how much fruit will be harvested and sent, if there will be delays in vessels as they are trying to fill them to capacity to send to the U.S., etc,” says Rasmussen. “However, this isn’t the first time importers have faced weather issues in a country. It is about being flexible as the information we know now might be changing as the growers continue to assess the damages. Citrus items like mandarins, lemons, Cara Cara and navels will be affected but again, to what degree has yet to be determined.”
Determining the impact
Right now, he says growers are assessing the damage and it will be a while as the floods subside before they are able to get back out into their fields. ”The rains, as well as the low temperatures/freeze, affected the V and VI regions of Chile, primarily, or the central to the central south part of the country,” he says. “That is typically a later area for mandarins. The impact will be felt much more on navels and Cara Caras. The V and VI regions are where the majority of navels/Caras are planted.”
He compares the situation to what happened in California in March with its atmospheric rain events. “In the short term, it isn’t good news for them as the floods obviously will affect the crop and the yields. Long term, they needed the rain to help fill up reservoirs and to saturate the soils similar to California this year,” he says.
Source - https://www.freshplaza.com
