Chile estimates Hass avocado crop volume following freeze
Chile estimates Hass avocado crop volume following freeze
Santiago, Chile-based Comite de Paltas de Chile estimated that the Hass avocado crop would be down 33-37 percent from last year's record production figures.
The volume of Hass avocados that Chile will export to its international markets in the 2007-08 season - which runs from July 2007 to February 2008 - is between 230 million and 242 million pounds.
The crop losses stem from a freeze that struck avocado-growing areas in Chile early in the week of July 10. The shortfall is expected to be felt most severely during late August and early September.
Maggie Bezart, director of marketing for the Chilean Avocado Importers Association, said that Hass avocados out of Chile for export to the United States this year are estimated at 170 million to 180 million pounds. Both the figures for the U.S. market and total exports to international markets are on a par with 2005 totals. Last year's increased Hass avocado volumes largely were the result of increased acreage, she said.
"We feel there'll be product and that Chile will be able to fill gaps in the November-through-January period," Ms. Bezart told The Produce News. She said that avocado quality should be "excellent" and that Chile's 23 percent maturity level standard on its avocados -- implemented several years ago -- is higher than competing countries. The 23 percent represents the dry matter in the avocado. That standard "assures customers we deliver quality that their shoppers expect," Ms. Bezart said.
Another arctic wave of cold weather hit Chile's avocado-growing areas the weekend of Aug. 11-12. Ms. Bezart anticipated that the recent cold spell would not change avocado volume estimates but that Comite de Paltas de Chile would have more information the week of Aug. 20.
The volume of Hass avocados that Chile will export to its international markets in the 2007-08 season - which runs from July 2007 to February 2008 - is between 230 million and 242 million pounds.
The crop losses stem from a freeze that struck avocado-growing areas in Chile early in the week of July 10. The shortfall is expected to be felt most severely during late August and early September.
Maggie Bezart, director of marketing for the Chilean Avocado Importers Association, said that Hass avocados out of Chile for export to the United States this year are estimated at 170 million to 180 million pounds. Both the figures for the U.S. market and total exports to international markets are on a par with 2005 totals. Last year's increased Hass avocado volumes largely were the result of increased acreage, she said.
"We feel there'll be product and that Chile will be able to fill gaps in the November-through-January period," Ms. Bezart told The Produce News. She said that avocado quality should be "excellent" and that Chile's 23 percent maturity level standard on its avocados -- implemented several years ago -- is higher than competing countries. The 23 percent represents the dry matter in the avocado. That standard "assures customers we deliver quality that their shoppers expect," Ms. Bezart said.
Another arctic wave of cold weather hit Chile's avocado-growing areas the weekend of Aug. 11-12. Ms. Bezart anticipated that the recent cold spell would not change avocado volume estimates but that Comite de Paltas de Chile would have more information the week of Aug. 20.
