The South American country of Chile exports more than 800,000 tons of fruit to the U.S. annually, and over half of that is supplied during our winter months.
As the largest fruit exporter in the Southern Hemisphere, Chile has everything from blueberries, to grapes and stone fruit — such as peaches, plums and nectarines — during the winter months. When you see these items in the produce department of your local supermarket, chances are the fruit is from Chile. This results in many fresh fruits being available the year around, something that did not exist, at least on today’s scale, 20 years ago.
Most of the Chilean produce items arrive by boat on both the east and west coasts of the United States.
Chilean cherries are available from November through January. Blueberries run from November through March. The grape arrivals from Chile runs from December through May, and peaches, plums and nectarines arrive in the U.S. from December through April.
Chile exports around 400,000 tons of grapes to the U.S. each year, representing about half of Chile’s entire export volume to the U.S.
Volume in tons of Chilean fruit imports has been fairly stable over the years, although the 2013-14 was certainly an exception.
Chile experienced its worst drought in 80 years, and the country also had a three-week port strike. With Chile continually expanding its global presence and selling to more international markets, one might expect to see decreasing volumes to the U.S., but that is not the case. Some commodities, like grapes, have seen decreased volumes, but others, such as blueberries and citrus, have had huge growth.
The potential fly in the ointment this season is the port strikes on the West Coast, particularly as L.A. and Long Beach, escalates.