Chile's fruit export association Asoex has said further cut the country's table grape export forecast, following heavy and unseasonal rains earlier this year.

In a third estimate for the 2020-21 season, Asoex President Ronald Bown Fernández said the forecast was now for 64.6 million boxes (8.2 kilo-equivalent).

The figure would mark a 12 percent year-on-year decline - down from the 10 percent decline announced in late February - and a 22 percent down from the season's original January estimate of 82 million boxes.

"We have been working hard to have a better assessment of our table grape exports, especially after the frontal system that affected us with a high level of rainfall and, in some cases hailstorms, in some producing areas," Bown said.

"In this way, we have arrived at a projection of our exports for this year 2020-2021 of more than 64 million boxes, which reflects a decrease of 12 percent with respect to shipments of table grapes for the 2019-2020 season, and at the same time, also shows a decrease of 3 percent in relation to the second estimate of last February, in which more than 66 million boxes were projected," said Ronald Bown.

He added that this third forecast of table grape exports for this season "is the best estimate that can be made to date. We hope that, as time goes by, this projection will not decrease".

Bown also noted that this third estimate corresponds to information provided by 38 companies, which together represent 59% of the volume exported last season (2019-2020).

He said that the main decreases in Chile are being seen in white varieties. It is expected that 14.2 million boxes of green grapes will be exported, 5.7 million boxes of black grapes, 28.8 million boxes of red grapes, and 16.2 million boxes of Red Globes.