During week 4, according to figures provided by IQonsulting, Chile exported 4,200 tons of cherries, reaching 840,000 boxes of 5 kilos. With this, to date 352,800 tons have been sent out of the country, equivalent to 70.6 million boxes, 1.3 percent more than what was exported to the same date in the 2020-2021 campaign, which closed with 356,800 tons of cherries in total.
China remains the main destination for Chilean cherries, accounting for 89 percent of our exports. Although a considerable number of containers of cherries remained unsold during the recent CNY celebrations, there is still no consensus regarding the total figure.
“It has been quite controversial, to be honest, how many containers were left. We estimate that there were about 1,500 containers left unsold before the Chinese New Year, of which there should have been arrival and sales by week 4. Some say that there were 3,000-3,500. The truth is that there is a wide opinion on how many containers were left uncleared, but there is a high consensus that there are around 7,000 containers that have to be sold after the Chinese New Year.”, said Isabel Quiroz, Director and Founder of IQonsulting.
Over the recent weekend, cherry sales in the Chinese market gradually picked up again.
“Some came to sell on Friday, February 4. There were 80 containers, of which 40 percent were new, which had not been offered in previous weeks, however, what was sold was very low, only 20 percent of the fruit that arrived,”
Quiroz explained.
Although the volume sold was not as expected, according to Isabel Quiroz, Director and Founder of IQonsulting, the prices, although lower than before the celebration, were good: “From my perspective, in a week with few buyers, they were not so bad. The Lapins, remember that there are very few, were offered between USD 22 and 38 per 5 kilo box from Jumbo to Premium, the whole spectrum, this is a wholesale market sale and, therefore, there are many discounts to be made.” However, so far this week (the 6th), the price has behaved at lower and more worrying levels. We hope that this will pick up once the market for old fruit is cleared.”, concluded Isabel Quiroz.
There are still a few weeks left until the end of the cherry commercial season, which to date (February 9) has accumulated 72 million boxes exported and is expected to reach a total of 74 million by the end of the 2021-2022 campaign.
