Cherries in Charts: Chile sends lowest opening volumes to U.S. in years

The southern hemisphere cherry season has begun in the U.S., and so in this article we will look at what has been taking place in the market.

As can be seen in the chart below, the U.S. market is supplied by various origins. Washington state is the biggest supplier, followed by California, Oregon and Chile.

The cherry season in the U.S. is concentrated in a few weeks, as can be seen below. The chart also shows that the total volumes in the market have been rising slightly over the years.

Between November and January, the U.S. cherry market is supplied mainly by Chile, New Zealand and Argentina. This follows on the local supplies from Washington, California, Oregon, Idaho and Canada from May to September. The market is heavily supplied from weeks 20 to 30.

Speaking about the season that starts in November, this year the volumes from Chile have been their lowest in five years. This is likely in part due to the occasional paralyzation of the Port of San Antonio amid the social unrest in the country.

The Chilean Cherry Committee is projecting a 15% rise in volumes this season to 209,000 metric tons (MT), with a peak in weeks 51 and 52.

Written by: Cristian Crespo
Original published in FreshFruitPortal.com on December 10, 2019 (Link)