Brazil's largest table grape producer Grupo JD is forecasting a substantially reduced production of its white seedless varieties this season due to cloudy weather hindering fertility, however its 14 new cultivars will be 'bigger and better' than last year. 

Grupo JD commercial director Daniel Watanabe told www.freshfruitportal.com he was expecting this season to be difficult as the volume of white seedless grapes looked as though it would be 20%-30% below average.

"This is going to be a tough season for us because today I think we can say that, for us, the biggest export opportunities are in the white seedless," Watanabe said.

"We had cloudier weather than normal in the first semester and that had an impact on fertility especially of the white seedless - Sugraone and Thompson - so in general the production for the white should be between 20% to 30% lower than normal.

"When you have cloudier weather you have less daylight and so there is a direct impact on the fertility of the grapes."

Despite the disappointing volume estimates, Watanabe said he was pleased with the grapes' quality and sizing both because the fruit was receiving a higher proportion of nutrients than normal, and also because the spell of dry weather in recent years had come to an end.

"2012 and 2013 were very dry years in Brazil in the northeast, but at the end of last year and beginning of this year we had a normal rain period," he said.

"So in those two years the plants were more stressed but this year they are stronger, and we also had a cold winter which was good for the quality"

Watanabe said that for his red seedless varieties like Crimson, the fertility process was unaffected by the cloudy weather as it took place after the white varieties.

Harvest is due to begin for some of the white seedless grapes in the first week of September and will only run through mid-October as after that there is a higher risk of rain which would have adverse effects on the Thompson variety.

Promising domestic opportunities

Grupo JD's annually produces some 20,000 metric tons (MT), of which around a quarter is exported to markets including the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, with the rest destined for domestic consumption.

The company has seen a decline in U.S.-bound exports in recent years, largely due to Californian growers producing higher volumes of later season varieties.

"Our main sales timing in the U.S. used to be Thanksgiving and Christmas, but Californian growers have been able to stay in the markets longer and have been able to supply during those times," Watanabe said.

"So for us the window is smaller and the Brazilian exports in the last three years have been reduced a lot. So the U.S. became a smaller market for Brazilian exports."

Despite the smaller volumes being sent to the United States, Watanabe said he was confident the grapes would be sold easily to the domestic market, which was increasing its grape consumption.

"The Brazilian market is very good - we have close to 300 million people here and the Brazilian consumption of the fruit is increasing," he said.

"We have been able to sell everything here, so even with this the reduced exports to the United States we have been able to sell it here in Brazil."

400 hectares of new varieties

Grupo JD has been investing heavily in breeding new grape varieties and this will be the second year 14 news cultivars have been in commercial production.

Included in the new varieties are Sweet Globe (white seedless), Sweet Celebration (red seedless), Sweet Jubilee (black seeded) and Sugar Crispy (white seedless).

"We have a commercial testing block and we are testing close to 100 varieties there from different international breeders," Watanabe said.

"But in commercial scale we already have 14 new varieties in production, so it’s around 400 hectares of new varieties only."

"We are expecting a good crop this year because the vines are more mature so the crop will be of a bigger production and better quality."

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