California stonefruit have made two breakthroughs this year with new product entries in Australia and Japan, while market access negotiations continue in South Korea and China. At www.freshfruitportal.com we catch up with California Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA) trade director Marcy Martin, who says while volumes bound for Mexico have declined in recent years, exports as an overall percentage of production are set to grow.

"The sum of the total is the most important part of it," says Martin, summing up her philosophy on the delicate balance that is the overseas fruit trade.

"At the end of the year you could have a really great export market where returns are really healthy, but if other markets are depressed you end up losing." 

No market is too small, even if it may not always deliver the best returns. She says the U.S. domestic market remains healthy and at the moment accounts for 70-75% of production, but this percentage is expected to shift as new overseas markets develop.

Canada is the top export market for the state's stonefruit, followed by Taiwan and Mexico vying for second place. But there are several markets worldwide that have remained steady and others that are firmly on the growth path.

A good example is Australia, which granted access for California peaches and nectarines a few years ago and has just this year allowed imports of the state's plums and apricots for the first time.

"Peaches and nectarines are equal in terms of export volume into the Australian marketplace - they have their own production there, so the consumer is very keen towards those two commodities and I think they've been very welcoming and are more enlightened to the type of varieties California is currently producing.

"I think plums will be able to be successful upon implementing and reintroducing the varieties that are produced in California that are not produced in Australia.

"That will take additional promotional efforts...what's important, and for Australian growers as well, is that we are counterseasonal, so there’s not this competitive behavior, competitive attitude within the retail markets where you’ve got to select domestic production over imports or vice versa."

Martin believes giving the Australian marketplace year-round stonefruit will help increase consumption, which will be positive for growers in both countries. She also highlights the importance of the established pre-clearance program, as shipping to a market as far away as Australia takes re-export off the table if rejections occur.

"Additionally it helps with any arrival delays that happen at ports of entry, so that really assists in making sure that the market receivers are getting product immediately and are able to further input it into the distribution channel," Martin says.

"That’s always really important, particularly when you’ve got a transit time where if you were shipping by ocean it would take several weeks. In the case of California, they are shipping on consignments by airfreight to Australia."

The industry maintains exports to New Zealand as well, which has been more challenging than Australia but nonetheless a country "you need in the cache of markets you’ve got available to you".

Developments in Asia

Until this year the Californian stonefruit industry's main export deal into Asia has been with white-fleshed nectarines and peaches in Taiwan, but Martin adds another significant breakthrough has happened this year nearby.

"We’ve had access this year for the first time in more than a decade into Japan, and that was limited to nectarines, so we shipped about 20,000 cartons into Japan," she says.

"As we see these markets come up like this and we can expand in moving beyond just one commodity to two or three more, of course we’ll see a shift and we’ll be identifying what the consumer preferences we can highlight in promotional programs as well.

"We’re working on access to Japan [for other stonefruit varieties] - the goal is we’re looking at expanding into Korea and expanding with nectarines into China. Right now China takes a significant amount of plums from us so those markets are certainly going to edge us up to see exports exceed 35% of total production."

She adds Chinese representatives came to visit California as part of stonefruit market access negotiations.

Mexico still an important piece of the puzzle

Martin mentions the industry has had a systems approach protocol for the Mexican market for around a decade now, with more than 95% of the 15-20 or so big shippers involved in the market sending fruit without methyl bromide treatment.

"California is currently required to employ Mexico’s oversight - its inspection staff are present in California during the time when the industry is able to ship, and that runs from May 1 to about the end of October which is roughly in line with California’s stonefruit season.

"We’ve seen since 2013 about a 30% decline in what we’re exporting into California into the Mexican marketplace. We probably are exporting roughly two million cartons a year now – it was as high as three million three or four years ago.

"Certainly all these things are to do with price in comparison to grower costs. Mexico’s economy has been depressed – I think the peso has depreciated in comparison to the US dollars in the last couple of years, which always has an impact in the marketplace, whether it’s Mexico or another country."

She says Mexico typically takes smaller sized fruit, and demand also depends on the level of the country's own domestic production.

"Typically Mexico is purchasing more smaller sized, less expensive fruit.

"It’s a very good market because growers and shippers need all kinds of markets for all kind of types and sizes and varieties of fruit are being produced, with the hope that at the end of the season it pencils out that  there are profits realized in that particular season."

Martin says the Californian drought has had an impact on the crop, but leading up to the current season there has certainly been a decent amount of rain and enough chilling hours.

"We had more smaller sizes than we’d anticipated, and if we continue going forward with a decent winter and rainfall, we’ll probably see a shift in that - we’re probably still some 38 million or so boxes in production this year."

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