Four thousand cartons of grapes from Argentina were expected to be shipped from the port of Coquimbo in northern Chile for the first time, according to local daily Diario del Día of La Serena.

The grapes are headed toward the port of Wilmington, Delaware, in the United States, the newspaper said.

The inaugural shipment of grapes from the San Juan region on Jan. 17 came a few days after a report that fruit exports from Coquimbo fell 43% in December due to delayed harvests, according to a report from the country’s agricultural service, SAG, quoted the newspaper.

In December 2010, nearly 1.9 million cartons of fruit were sent from Coquimbo, compared with about 3.3 million cartons sent in December 2009, according to Jaime Rodríguez, supervisor of agricultural exports for SAG, the website said.

“The season is late because the weather affected the harvest,” Rodríguez is quoted as saying. “What I have learned is that there is a problem with size and color of fruit, and therefore the production suffered a delay of about two weeks.”

Rodríguez said he expects exports to rebound in January and February, according to the website.

Miguel Zuvic, manager of the Coquimbo port, concurred. “This month and in February, things could vary and these numbers could increase considerably,” he is quoted as saying.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This version corrects a previous version in which the story stated that four million cartons of grapes from Argentina were expected to be shipped from Coquimbo, instead of four thousand.

Photo: Diario del Día of La Serena

Source: www.freshfruitportal.com