U.S. retailers are focused on table grape imports and fruit in cold storage as the local harvest period has come to an end and shipments are now coming in from Peru, Chile, Brazil, and South Africa, according to a report by San Lucar.
With Piura already over, Ica is now in full export season. From W21 up to W51, 41,014,134 total 8,2kg boxes have been shipped being the most exported White seedless (46%; 19,055,266 boxes), Red Seedless (25%; 10,215,686 boxes), Red Globe (17%; 7,066,089 boxes) and Black seedless (5%; 1,863,095 boxes).
Of these exports, 56% are destined for the EE.UU., 10% to LATAM, 24% to Europe, and 9% to Asian markets.
Even though Peru is expected to export fewer grapes this season year-on-year, until week 51 of 2023, the country had exported 23% more than the same period last year.
The export period out of Brazil lasted until week 52, the last of 2023. The South American country exported a total of 5,473 containers. Of the total volume, 3,923 of the containers were shipped into the EU and 1,453 into the U.S.A.
Reports out of Chile show that shipments to the U.S. started four weeks earlier than last season and unit week 51 of 2023, it had already exported 1,279,642 boxes.
Due to weather conditions, production volumes dropped this year in the U.S., mainly out of California. A result of this is shown in cold storage reports on Dec. 19 showed that there were up to 865,917, 8,2kg boxes in storage, compared to 2,537,321 on the same date last year, meaning a reduction of 66%.
