Chile exported just 465 metric tons (MT) of blueberries last week with small volumes expected over the next fortnight as the season finishes up. The Chilean Blueberry Committee previously reduced the total season shipment estimate down by around 9% to 70,986MT, but accumulated exports to week 12 were 3% lower than expected under the new forecast at 68,487MT.

The committee's latest crop report says various events throughout the season led to changes in both crop volumes and the industry dynamic.

"The main milestones for this campaign were a slow start, followed by an explosion of fruit ripening in the central zone until the start of December, radically changing the expected harvest dynamic," the report said.

"To this can be added the effect of rains in the southern zone, which had a negative impact on final production."

Committee manager Andrés Armstrong tells www.freshfruitportal.com the season has been "atypical" as the growth seen in recent years did not occur.

He says that weather variation has been more marked than in other seasons, which had physiological consequences for the blueberries.

"One characteristic of this season is that there was early ripe fruit and this meant an accumulation of a lot of fruit for shipping."

The season's production dynamics

The report says temperatures in southern Chile at the moment are higher than during last season due to a 15% year-on-year increase in thermal accumulation.

The opposite was the case at the start of the season in the IV (Coquimbo) region where a 4% lower thermal accumulation level and lower temperatures led to slow ripening until mid-November.

Chile's blueberry outlook changed significantly in early December with high temperatures in the central zone speeding up the ripening and harvesting process, from the VI (O'Higgins) region to the VIII (Biobio) region.

The second change came around Dec. 21 when exporters from the IX (Araucania) region through to the XIV (Los Rios) region recorded an average thermal accumulation that was 27% higher, altering the export dynamic but not the export forecast.

However, the high temperatures took their toll on some producers and in January the export volume was cut by 4,014MT.

"So, volume left to harvest from the Metropolitana Region to the south diminished between 3-5% depending on the zone," the report said.

"To this was added the effect of ash from (Volcano) Cordon Caulle, estimating that 2,000MT was left out of fresh exports."

The season forecast changed again on Mar. 1 as a result of rains in the south, cutting back export potential volumes by 3,000MT.

www.freshfruitportal.com