The citrus season for Peru's Consortium of Fruit Producers (CPF) is now fully under way after a somewhat delayed start, but a company representative has highlighted a challenging situation in the European market due to increased Southern Hemisphere volumes. 

Many Peruvian fruit crops, including bananas and avocados, have been affected by heavy rains in the country over recent months, but citrus appears to have escaped without too many complications.

CPF commercial manager Marianela Rodríguez told Fresh Fruit Portal there had been a delay in coloring for the early varieties, which had largely come about due to a lack of chilling hours.

"The only effect that we have seen was the slight delay to the start of our Satsuma campaign, both in the start of exports and in volume," she said.

"However, now we have recuperated the rhythm of harvest and we expect to export the 400 containers of Satsuma that had been forecast at the start of the season. We still have a few weeks of harvest to go.

"For this citrus season we are forecasting a total of 1,800 containers of mandarins - made up of Satsumas, Primosoles, Novas, Minneolas, W. Murcotts, Tango and Fortune."

Rodríguez said the company had now finished the first Primsole campaign and was in the middle of the Satsuma deal.

"We are approaching the weeks with high volume. While we have a solid list of clients and programs, we are always on the look out to develop new markets and opportunities."

She added every season was different and involved uncontrollable weather factors, but said that from what she had seen, this year was "within the norm for production development".

"We hope to continue along this path and have a successful citrus campaign," she said.

Troubles in Europe

From a marketing perspective, Rodriquez described this season as "challenging", principally because of the high volumes being shipping from its main competitor, South Africa, which is forecasting an 8% increase in its soft citrus exports to around 13.2 million boxes.

"We have always competed directly with South Africa, mainly in the European market, but we also have competition with places like Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, which are exerting more pressure year-to-year," she said.

"It is therefore crucial to offer a high quality product to increase the competitiveness of the Peruvian industry."

CPF has also been developing the Chinese market since 2009. 

"While the volume that we ship to this market is not yet significant, this season we are going to increase the volume of W. Murcotts," she said.

"We won't carry out a specific marketing campaign but we have strategic partners who have been managing our labels and are gradually gaining market recognition."

Photo: www.shutterstock.com

www.freshfruitportal.com