At first Chilean cherries were expected to have an excellent season, with large amounts of cherry, but the rains in November brought an end to those expectations. In addition, the country experienced flooding during winter that was not something they had been used to.

“In the spring, right before the harvest time, we experienced rain across our growing areas, and then 10 days later when we began picking the cherries and preparing to pick, we received additional rain.” says Boris Manz, Commercial and Procurement Manager of Fruit Growers Alianza, the UK importer of San Clemente & Gesex.

“We could be 65percent lower than the first varieties. The late-season varieties might also be lower in volume but not quite as much like the earlier ones however. The reason for this is because of a larger than average drop in fruit. Regina varieties are growing slower than normal. Regina kinds are growing more slowly than usual.”

The decrease in volume has a direct impact on the volume of cherries shipped to Europe as well as the UK. The majority of Chilean cherries are sent into China and this year’s will remain the same.

“We have been trying to provide a few cherries to our customers from Europe as well as the UK however, this poses difficult because of the heavy rain, the Chilean company had to employ the fungicide for weeks 47-50 in order to preserve the cherries we received however this isn’t permissible in Europe or the UK which means it’s an unnecessary risk to ship the fruit to these markets in the event that the MRLs are excessively high.”

In spite of these difficulties, Boris confirmed that they’re making weekly air freight loads trying to meet European clients’ orders, in addition to working with any other options to load containers, if quality and operation permit it.

Another problem is the delay and the reduction in vessels allowed to travel via this Panama Canal. The number of vessels allowed to pass through the canal has decreased from 30-40 vessels down to 18 vessels in January. It is impacting mainly dry bulk.

“With such a high-value product as cherries, you need to ensure that the time of delivery as brief as we can. Our customers have been extremely accommodating, and we’ve kept the company informed all the way, and it’s an issue for the whole industry. It is unlikely to impact our relationships with customers. This has been an extremely tough time for us, however we’ll be able to continue to serve our customers with the best service.”

More information is available here:

Boris Manz

Fruit Growers Alianza

boris.manz@fgaltd.co.uk