Major Peruvian table grape grower Ecosac is boosting its focus on seedless varieties, amid plans to ship the first commercial consignments to China this year.

The Piura-based company was granted a license by U.S. fruit breeder Sun World one year ago to grow its grape varieties, and is also licensed to grow International Fruit Genetics (IFG) cultivars.

Ecosac commercial director Gerd Burmester

At the Expoalimentaria trade fair held in the Peruvian capital Lima last week, Ecosac commercial director Gerd Burmester said around 1,250 containers of table grapes would be shipped by the company this season.

"Of those, 750 are Red Globes and 500 are seedless," he told www.frehsfruitportal.com.

"We’re continuing and growing with new varieties, doing tests as always. We’re coming out with around 12 seedless varieties at a commercial scale already, and we have about 18 more that are in a test phase.

"We think that as a company we need to develop a very varied and rich varieties portfolio in order to be attractive to our customers, which are mainly supermarkets."

Varieties now under commercial production include Crimson Seedless, Autumn Royal, Sweet Globe, and Sable Seedless, while those being trialed include Cotton Candy and Candy Snaps.

Burmester said that Red Globes and some royalty-free seedless varieties like Thompson were becoming more of a commodity, causing prices to suffer.

He said that as a result it was important to invest for the future with new and interesting varieties, but added it was hard work as the varieties selected for commercial plantings must perform well.

"You have to chose varieties that have three factors - they need to taste good, travel well and they need to be productive. These variables must be present in order to ensure the continuity of a table grape producer," he said.

Ecosac first started shipping table grapes to China in 2008, and last year carried its first seedless grape trial shipments to the market.

This year, the company plans to export its first commercial volumes to China. Burmester said around 200 containers of Red Globe would likely be shipped, along with 5-10 containers of seedless varieties.

"Those are my plans, but at the end all depends on quality of the fruit," he said.

Ecosac, which first began business farming shrimp in 2000 before moving on to agriculture, sells grapes in 38 markets worldwide and is also preparing for the future opening of the Japanese market.

"We think that Japan is coming in a couple of years," he said.

"The market looks to be similar to the U.K. We're not yet sure about the specifications and level of quality demanded. We have the impression that it is a more price sensitive market than Britain, but with time we'll know more.

"We have been working with one Japanese company in other markets for the last three years in order to strengthen the relationship with them and prepare for when the market opens."

He added that along with Japan, Australia was another market likely to open for Peruvian grapes in the near future.

Lemon and lime trials

Aside from table grapes, Ecosac also grows avocados, mangoes and peppers, and Burmester said the company was thinking 'seriously' about moving into the lemon and lime businesses.

The variety of lime that is due to begin trials next year is the Tahiti, while the lemon plantings would be of the Eureka variety.

"We know that those markets are growing, and we know that Piura is an area where those fruits can be grown very well," he said.

"There is a strong lime that we plant in Peru mainly for ceviche, and other limes like the Tahiti lime may also work out. Eureka lemon is not so easy, because you have to get the right color, so we might have to add a process at the end to take the green out."

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